


Omnia Vincit Amor

by LittleTurtle95



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adult Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angsty Bill Denbrough, Apologies, Bad Jokes, Best Friends, F/M, Family Secrets, First Kiss, Friendship/Love, M/M, Minor Bill Denbrough/Audra Phillips, Minor Character Death, Minor Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Protective Siblings, Revelations, Secret Crush, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-12-24 01:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21091445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleTurtle95/pseuds/LittleTurtle95
Summary: It's a night like every other when Mike Hanlon, Head teacher of the Ravenclaw House at Hogwarts, gets woken up in the middle of the night and is forced to write a letter to his childhood friends asking for help.Togheter when they were children they defeated Henry Bowers, the most powerful dark Wizard of the nineteenth century, and today they'll have to stick back together to understand why the Hogwarts students keep missing without trace.William Denbrough, chief of the Daily Prophet.Richard Tozier, England's most awarded auror.Edward Kaspbrak, head healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and injuries.Stanley Uris, youngest head accountant at Gringott's Wizarding Bank.Beverly Marsh, owner of Glazrads Wizardwears.Benjamin Hanscom, top grade architect for the English Ministry of Magic.Michael Hanlon, transfiguration teacher and Head of the Ravenclaw House at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Will they be able to solve the case and save the children of Hogwarts, and the Wizardry World again?





	1. The case of Adrian Mellon

**Author's Note:**

> This the billionth Hogwarts AU in the fandom because you know, never enough right?  
Not every one of the Losers' Hogwarts Houses is gonna be told in the fic, because they're not important in the story since they all left Hogwarts and are currently in their forties, so I'm gonna list them here only for the sake of curiosity.
> 
> Bill Denbrough (Gryffindor)  
Mike Hanlon (Ravenclaw)  
Richie Tozier (Gryffindor)  
Eddie Kaspbrak (Gryffindor)  
Ben Hanscom (Hufflepuff)  
Beverly Marsh/Hanscom (Gryffindor)  
Stanley Uris (Slytherin)
> 
> The fic is already finished so there won't be any delays. I'll post a new chapter every day.

_05/09/94_

_"W-we have to promise. We have to pr-promise that if anything like him will c-come, we'll be ready to f-fight it. Togheter" Bill said, his green eyes shining like morning stars._

_Beverly handed him some bracelets. "I stole them. There's one for each of us. We'll have to swear on them and wear them all the time". Bill _ _nodded_ _. The others looked unconvinced._

_ Eddie was still weak after what happened, Ben couldn't walk properly and Stan showed some scars he knew they would never be able to heal. _

_Bill looked for something in his pocket and showed them a knife._

_"What are you going to do with it?" Mike asked, as he stepped back._

_"I'm gonna cut our p-palm and then we'll put the _ _bl_ _-blood on the bra- bracelets. This oath will l-last forever" He declared._

_"I don't like it, Billy" Richie whispered, gently grabbing Eddie's sleeve for comfort._

_"We have to" Beverly insisted, and Ben closed his eyes. He handed Bill his palm and his friend slowly cut it. He flinched. Some drops of blood fell on the bracelets Beverly was holding._  
_Richie followed, then Eddie, then Mike. When Bill cut Beverly's palm she didn't even blink an eye. He then cutted the palm of his own hand, and finally turned to face Stanley. The curled haired boy shook his head, hesitantly._

_"I can't do this, Big Bill. I'm sorry. Please Billy, I don't want to do this" he begged._

_"Stan..." Mike whispered to him, "togheter. Remember?"_

_"Together" Richie repeated._

_Stanley Uris sighed deeply, he had tears in his eyes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he handed his palm to Bill. When everybody's blood was on the bracelets, Beverly gently put them on their wrists._

_"__W-we__ can't use our wands because we're __still __un-_ _und__-__... minors__. But this is __n-not__ magic. This is __s-something__ more. This is a blood oath. This will __w-work__" Bill finally said, the sun shining bright upon them, blessing their promise._

* * *

_10/31/19_

_**Mike Hanlon writes a letter**_  
_Hogwarts castle, Scotland_

When the Headmistress Maturin called him in her office in the middle of the night, Mike already knew what was it all about. Another student missing. That's why he didn't even put his robes on and ran to the tower in his sleep clothes.

"Caretta" he whispered heavy breathing because of the run, and the statue at the entrance let him in. There she stood, her green witch robes stunning as ever, her white hair tied in a tight bun behind her head and a small forced smile on her wrinkled lips. Headmistress Maturin was the most powerful witch of the time, no doubts, and she was always perfectly stunning, even in the middle of the night. She was more than a hundred years old, but she looked still fierce and strong.

The kid in front of her was quite the opposite, for obvious reasons. His hands were shaking visibly, his wide eyes full of tears. He was dressed up and not in his pyjamas as Mike had expected. That could only mean one thing: he was breaking the curfew. That explained the pained and guilty look on his face.

"What happened, miss?" Mike asked, frowning, even if he already knew the answer.

"Do you remember Mr Hagarty, don't you, professor Hanlon?" Maturin asked.

Mike nodded. Of course he did, he remembered every one of his students, name, face and grades. Sometimes something more. The boy in the office was Don Hagarty, fifteen year old Hufflepuff, not the best in his class but always curios and quite interested. Lately Mike was noticing the kid was hanging out with one of his classmates named

"_Adrian_, professor. It took him. I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" the guy sobbed. The boy was clearly talking about Adrian Mellon, fifth year, seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Smart boy, good grades, but not so good at following rules and never silent in class. The woman in front of him sighed, looking sharply at Don while he kept crying.

"You and Mr Mellon knew very well that the curfew exists for one particular reason. I am very disappointed in you. You put yourselves both in danger and we lost one more student tonight" at the words, Don sobbed even louder.

Mike shot a glare to the headmistress and put a hand on the student's shoulder, squeezing it thightly.

"Don't panic, Don. It's okay. The aurors will find him, it's okay. Why don't you calm down and tell us what happened?"

The boy slowly stopped crying, his shoulders still slightly shaking in tiny sobs. "Adrian, he..." he whispered with a broken voice, "he... fuck. Oh my God sorry, I didn't intend to swear"

"We don't mind Don, please, keep going" Mike reassured him.

"Adrian, he asked me to meet him tonight. I told him there was the curfew but he didn't listen, and I... I wanted to see him so bad, we have OWLS this year, we study all the time and... and... it's my fault! I had to stop him, I had to be firm, I knew this wasn't a good idea..." he rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, trying to stop the tears.

"Where were you? What happened?" the headmistress pushed, and Mike nodded, letting him continue.

"We were... we were in the prefects' bathroom" he blurted out. Mike cursed silently in his head. Neither of them was a prefect so it meant someone gave one of them the password. That was a problem they would have to face later.

"I was filling the bath tube, trying to make the water smell like flowers with magic, I learned how to do that in charms this week and I wanted to show him, so I was focused on the task. He was in one of the toilets, when I heard him scream. I... I ran and called him, and when I opened the toilet's door he... he..." the boy closed his eyes as more tears fell down his cheek. "It's my fault, I'm so sorry"

"It's not your fault Don, stop saying that. Adrian knew as well as you what the curfew stands for, and he broke it anyway"

The boy swallowed and kept talking, his voice a bit stronger this time. "He was bleeding. He was bleeding a lot, he had a hole in his chest. And behind him..." he breathed heavily before saying it, " I don't know what it was. Maybe a wizard? It didn't look human, not entirely. Its skin was withe as snow, his body almost humanlike, but he had bright yellow eyes and sharp shark teeth, he was smiling. As soon as I saw them, they both disappeared. They vanished. I didn't have enough time to do anything, I didn't even have enough time to hold my wand, oh my God, he's gone..."

"I'll escort you to your dorm. Then I'll go check the bathroom. Tomorrow we'll discuss about consequences" the witch said, and Don nodded weakly.

"Professor, I think we can't wait anymore. You have to send your letters. Tonight. The Minister has no clue about what's happening and the parents are already threatening to bring their children home. We can't let that happen"

Mike sighed heavily but nodded. "I'm going to do it immediately. I think the first answers will came tomorrow at lunchtime if the owls will be fast.

"Do what you have to and go to sleep, tomorrow will be a long day" the woman said, and Mike obliged.

_11/01/19_

_**Bill Denbrough is concerned**_  
_Daily Prophet headquarters, London_

Bill was checking the articles that were going to be published that morning, to be sure everything was okay, as he did every day before eight am. He was tired, his green eyes darkened by two bad eye bags. He didn't sleep well that night, like something he didn't know was off. He heard a weak knock on the door and looked up from the papers he was reading.

"Yes?"

A witch with a long pointy hat opened the door and got inside, something in her hand.  
"Mr Denbrough, there's a letter for you"

Bill rolled his eyes. "If it's Rita again I don't want to read it, just throw it away" he said flatly, with a flip of his hand. Rita Skeeter was an ex journalist that used to work for his newspaper years prior. She was fired after a bad accident she was responsible for, and still kept sending letters begging him to get hired back.

"It's not Skeeter it... it comes from Hogwarts" the witch said, and Bill tensed. His heart rate suddenly fastened and he was glad he was already sit down, his knees weak.

"Accio" he whispered, holding his wand, and the letter immediately flew in his free hand. He thanked the woman and she left quickly, sensing that something wasn't okay and not wanting to push her boss too much.

Bill looked at the letter in horror. He waited a few seconds, listening to his heavy breathing, trying to collect the courage to finally open it.  
_"Please, let it not be Georgie. Merlin, please, it can't be Georgie. I don't know what I'd do if it's Georgie" _he thought, his hands shaking as he ripped the envelope. Georgie was his little brother, he was currently attending his last year at Hogwarts and Bill knew that the school had turned into a very dangerous place lately. He knew the kids were disappearing, he already wrote two first page articles about it. And since the very start the idea that something could happen to Georgie terrified him.

He inhaled deeply and started reading .

_Another one has vanished. It's the sixth this month and the second this week. It's getting worse and the Minister is incapable of doing anything. _  
_We have to stick back together and sort this out. Urgently._  
_When we were kids we promised if anything as bad as Bowers happened we would fight it together like the last time. _  
_This is even worse. The wizarding world needs it. __We have to honour that promise now._  
_Please, send me back the owl and write down when you'll be free. _  
_We'll sort this out._

_Yours_  
_Mikey._

Bill let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. It's not like the letter brought good news, actually it was quite the opposite, but least it wasn't... it wasn't... he didn't want to think about that now that he knew it wasn't true.

He sighed and grabbed a feather. He had to write back as soon as possible.

_ **Richie Tozier breaks his arm** _

_Ministry of Magic, London_

"Hey Rich, you okay?" the man asked, and he nodded with a grin, trying to hide his teary eyes turning his head to the side.

"I'm feeling amazing, really" he managed to say, holding his left arm with his right hand. They had just stopped a wizard robber from stealing in a muggle shop in Liverpool. They had to take down the wizard, put back the stolen goods and obliviate the shop owner. Richie got hurt in the process, as the thief shot a reducto directly to his arm.

"Maybe we should go to the hospital" Jake, his colleague, said as he looked closer at the injury.

"Don't worry _daddy_, I've a friend that's a healer, he'll give me some ossofast and I'll be perfectly fine at last tomorrow morning" he winked to his friend, willingly forgetting to clarify that his "healer friend" was the chief of the charm related injuries section at St Mungo's, as well as the oblivious object of his neverending love since childhood. He would be glad to join Eddie after work and ask him to heal his arm, that curse really happened for the better, mayhaps.

"Do what you want, Rich. And call me daddy like that one more time and I'll broke your other arm, I swear" Jake complained, rolling his eyes.

Richie snorted and went towards his desk, it was messed up as always, a lot of papers and small bottles piled up in no particular order. Something catched his eyes and he adjusted his glasses. He swiped off the tears with the back of his functioning hand and bit his lip to ignore the pain. He reached a small white envelope he didn't know why was on his desk and read carefully the names written on it. One was his own, and the other...

_Michael Hanlon, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

"Fuck" he whispered, slowly opening the letter and reading it carefully.

"Fuck" he repeated, as he closed his eyes and sighed. "Here we go again"

_ **Eddie Kaspbrak has a patient** _

_St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, London_

"Doctor Kaspbrak? Doctor Kaspbrak? What happened?" he heard Tom, one of the nurses, ask him frantically as he kept staring at the letter with wide eyes. It all suddenly came back to his mind, the day he was tortured, the day Stan got hurt, the day Bill chopped Bowers' hand off. He was an Hogwarts student at the time, and the events hit him so hard he still dreamt about it sometimes. He didn't want to face something like that again, but Mike was right. He promised. They all did.

"Doctor Kaspbrak!" a hand on his shoulder made him jump.

"What now?" he yelled nervously turning to face the other man.

"Sorry, you... you scared me. You've been staring at that letter for at least five minutes now. What is it? Is someone threatening you? Should I call for help?"

That made Eddie snap out of his thoughts and he shook his head. "Sorry, it's just an old friend with a bunch of bad news. Why were you after me again? The woman in 6A started floating again?"

"Yes. We don't know how to stop her, it looks like a curse, she lays down for an hour and then starts floating towards the ceiling shouting her lungs off"

Eddie sighed, biting his lower lip. "It is certainly a curse at this point. I'll ask my contact in the Ministry if they arrested someone yesterday evening, we'll check their wands eventually. Give her some deflating potion, it should work even if she's not gotten big. It's only a palliative but we have to know what hit her before Trying to do something more. Silence her or she'll wake the other patients , I'll be right back and come visit her as soon as possible. I have to do something urgent first" he said, and turned his back to look for a feather. He had to write a letter, after all. And maybe he should ask Richie about the floating problem, he was supposed to work night shifts that week, he knew it. Maybe he had seen something out of the normal the night before. He sighed and wrote Mike a response.

_ **Stanley Uris gets sick** _

_Gringott's Wizarding Bank, _ _Diagon_ _ Alley_

Stanley had just been sick in the bathroom, his pale face concerned, he was looking again at the letter in horror and confusion.

When Bill made them all swear to come back and fight if another menace threatened the Wizarding World, he didn't want to at first. Only when all of his friend did, he forced himself to. Out of the seven of them, Stanley was the one hit the most by the events they went through. And he didn't want to go through something like that again. He refused. He shook his head and touched the scar he had on his face, Bowers' sectumsempra had left an everlasting mark on his skin the day he nearly died. Thinking about that made him feel nauseous again.

"Sorry Bill, I can't do this" he muttered, closing his eyes shut. A few seconds later someone cleared his throat and he tensed. 

He opened his eyes but there was no one in sight. The man heard that sound again and remembered immediately were he was, shifting his vision closer to the ground. Oldril, the goblin he worked for, was looking at him with severity and what it looked like concern. _"I must really look like shit" _he thought. Goblins were never concerned about anything that wasn't gold related. Well, almost never, apparently.

"Mr Uris, I have to ask you to go home. This bank is an institution in the Wizarding World and it has to feel like a safe space for everyone. Wizards' sicknesses could be really dangerous for both goblins and humans and we can't let you stay here untill you're fully recovered" the small creature said, his half-moon glasses shining up his crooked nose.

Stanley nodded, secretly relieved. He needed rest, and most of all, he needed time to think about what to do. He didn't want to fight again, but he didn't want to leave his friends alone, too.

"Take your paperworks with you" Oldril ordered, and Stanley nodded again. He felt like if he'd open his mouth he could just throw up in front of his boss and Merlin, he didn't want to. He was terrified.

He carefully grabbed his paperworks, being a Gringott's account consisted basically only in counting paperworks, and stood up weakly.  
"I expect to see you at work tomorrow" the goblin said and Stan sighed.

"Of course. I'll be okay by then. See you tomorrow, sir" he whispered, trying to sound more or less normal.

Oldril shot him a strict glare and didn't even reply. He turned his back instead and walked away in silence. _"Well, fuck you too" _the wizard thought sharply.

** _The_ ** _ ** Hanscoms have a talk** _

_Hanscom Manor, Midlands_

Ben was the ministry's designed architect, but they didn't need him every day at work. That made him basically a stay at him husband most days, while his wife was at work in her shop in Hogsmeade. It was the most famous clothing store in the whole village and he was really proud of her.

That morning he woke up with a smile on his face, soon noticing Beverly had already left to work. He went to eat something for breakfast and then he'd have had to look at some buildings' projects he was studying and maybe cut the grass in the park in front of the house, with the help of magic of course, but he stopped still when he saw an unfamiliar owl waiting for him on the kitchen counter. The wizard tilted his head on the side and so did the animal, mirroring his gesture.

Ben approached the owl carefully and grabbed the envelope it had in its claws. The letter was addressed to both _Mr and Mrs Hanscom _and that was strangely unfamiliar.Usually the letters they received came from their workplaces, and they didn't work together.

He read the other name on the envelope and frowned. There was no reason why Mike should have sent them a letter so early in the morning.

He pulled the letter out and read it, suddenly tensing his muscles. He let out a suffocated sob, a hand on his chest. He had to find Beverly, and he had to do it now.

The wizard held his wand firmly in his hand, and thought _"Glazrads Wizardwears"_ while closing his eyes and turning on the spot. Everything suddenly went black; he was pressed very hard from all directions; he could not breathe, there were iron bands tightening around his chest; his eyeballs were being forced back into his head; his ear-drums were being pushed deeper into his skull. That lasted less then a second and here he was, in Diagon Alley. An old witch started screaming, startled as he appeared in the room.

"Honey I asked you one hundred times not to apparate inside when the shop is open, you're scaring the customers" Beverly said, from the back of the shop. She knew Ben was the only one who could appear in without a warning, he did it so many times the first year she worked there. The shop wasn't even already hers at the time.

When she came in the front, a wonderful red wizardry robe in her arms, he finally looked at him and froze. Ben was still in his sleep clothes, his face pale, and eyes wide. The witch instantly understood something was wrong and kindly asked the old woman, the only customer at the moment, to leave.

"Ben, love, what's wrong?"

He sighed, looking at her scared in the eyes.  
"Mike sent us a letter"

Beverly held his breath as she stepped closer. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Something bad happened. We have to... we have to meet the others. The time has come"

_ **Eddie Kaspbrak fixes a bone** _

Audra Phillips, Bill's wife, was out with some friends for dinner and Bill quickly took advantage of that, inviting his friend's home under her back. Mike arrived first and hugged him thightly. "I'm so glad you're doing this, Bill" the man whispered, still holding him close.

"How couldn't I? We promised, Mikey. And my brother is still an Hogwarts student, I have all interests in stopping this" he said, letting go of the other. "Do you think everybody is gonna come?"

Mike sighed. "I'm not sure about Stan. The owl came back without a response. The others are coming"

"Well, I won't blame him if he doesn't come" Bill muttered.

"Me too. But we're stronger together, I really hope he's going to join us"

Suddenly, a man and a woman apparated in the middle of the room, they were holding hands and looked both scared.

"Ben! Bev! Thank Merlin!" Mike sighed in relief, and Bill waved his hand, trying to smile despite the bad times they were facing.

"Hey guys. What happened?" Beverly asked immediately, she sounded worried, they all were. Ben squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I'll talk when everyone will be here" Mike answered calmly.

"Have a sit" Bill said, "I'll bring something to drink. Merlin knows how much we need it"

Eddie Kaspbrak, his white healer coat from work still on, St Mungo's pin shining on his chest, appareted right in Denbrough's living room. He was clearly exhausted. "Oh thank fuck, yes Big Bill, save one glass for me. I'm craving it"

"Hi Eddie, long time no see!" Ben greeted and Eddie smiled at him.

An instant after, a tall man with a black wizard cloak and a ministry uniform was suddenly with them. He was holding his arm with his other hand. "Heya buds, how's going?" he asked, fixing his glasses after the ruffled apparition he just had.

"Richie... what the hell did you do to your arm?" Eddie asked, eyes wide.

"I'll need a lot of firewhiskey" Bill sighed, and Mike nodded, he was already so tired but they had to go through this.

"Oh, Eds, I was just going to ask you for some Ossofast" Richie said, shrugging his shoulders and then moaning in pain because of the action.

Eddie huffed but started to look for something in his pocket, shoving his entire arm in. "Undetectable extension charm" he explained when Ben shot him with a perplexed look, then he grunted. "Oh, fuck, I can't find it. Wait" he grabbed his wand and declared "accio Ossofast". Quickly a boney white bottle jumped directly in his hand.

"What happened Rich?" Beverly asked, with a concerned tone.

"Just a common thief, princess. His wand was faster then mine, I fear"

Eddie stepped closer to him to heal him and coughed. "I absolutely hate your cologne man" he said.

Richie smirked. "Only because you've no taste"

"You're too old for this Richie, you know? It's becoming dangerous" Eddie muttered, ignoring his final sentence, between a healing spell and another. Richie's arm was already better looking. "It's the third time you come to me to get healed this week" he said, handing his friend the bottle of potion. Richie sipped from it and made a disgusted face.

"It sucks! You should put there some kind of strawberry flavour or something"

"You wouldn't have to drink it all the time if you were just more careful!" Eddie snapped.

"What for? I've a sexy private healer always ready to help me when I get hurt" he smirked.

"Shut up or I'm gonna break your other arm, Richie, I warn you"

"You're not the first person who says that to me today"

"It's not hard to believe it, you know it?"

"Ouch Eds, you hurt me!"

"Don't call me-" Eddie was interrupted by Mike, who cleared his throat. Bill was back, a bottle of firewhiskey and seven glasses floating behind him.

_ **Mike Hanlon tells a tale** _

"Please everybody, have a sit. There's a lot I have to tell you"

His friends obliged. The Denbrough living room was big, as the house was too. They all sit at the round table where seven chairs were waiting for someone to host.

Richie opened his mouth asking about Stanley when they heard a loud pop and their friend apparated, pale face, scared look, but he was here nonetheless.

Bill greeted him with a honest surprised smile saying "Stan! Welcome! We didn't..."

"Expect me to come. Me neither. But I... I didn't want to leave you alone in this" the man whispered awkwardly.

"We're glad you're here, Stanley" Mike said softly, as he gestured towards the empty chair in front of him. In the exact moment he sit, their matching bracelets inexplicably started to glow. The wizards and the witch looked at them in wonder, and after a few seconds all came back to normal.

"It's a good sign, I think" Ben whispered.

"I hope so..." Beverly added carefully.

"The oath is telling us that we'll have to stick together this time. All of us" Mike tried to explain.

"Well, we _are_ together now. Let's start" Bill said, and his friend started talking.

"Yesterday night another student disappeared in Hogwarts with no trace. His name was Adrian Mellon, a Gryffindor fifteen year old boy who was with his boyfriend out of bed after the curfew". Eddie flinched at the words. "He's the sixth missing child this month as all of you probably know. The Ministry has no idea about what happened. Richie, tell me if I'm wrong" the man shook his head and stayed silent so Mike continued. "Yesterday for the first time since this started, the vanished student wasn't alone when it happened. Don Hagarty, Adrian's partner, told us they were in the prefects' bathroom when it happened, and we know that at least one of the other missing kids was directed to the bathroom when he was last seen. Don also was able to see for a moment what took Adrian and made him disappear"

"Excuse me, did you say _what_?" Stan asked, his voice cracked.

"Yes, _what_. It wasn't a person who kidnapped and perhaps killed Adrian Mellon and probably all the other children. Don described it as a human like creature with white skin, bright yellow eyes and sharp teeth. He said... he said it was dressed like a clown"

"A clown?" Beverly asked. "You sure the boy isn't lying Mikey?"

"I trust Don, he's a loyal student, and an Hufflepuff. He wasn't lying. The headmistress Maturin is worried that..."

Richie forced out a laugh "Ha! The headmistress Maturin! If she's so powerful like everybody says, why doesn't she figure this out herself? Why did she have to call us?"

"Richie, stop, there's no time for this. _We _have to do this" Mike begged.

"No no, I'm serious Mikey! Why isn't she doing something? Have you heard her patronus is a turtle? Merlin, it's so stupid! A turtle! Can you imagine that?"

"Rich, for fuck's sake, stop" Bill said flatly.

"It's not my fault if last time we tried to stop something like that Eddie got tortured, Beverly was nearly killed and Stan got his fucking face ripped off and now a known powerful witch asks us to do what she has to do herself!" the man almost yelled.

"Richie, enough" Eddie said, firmly. Richie miraculously stopped, rolling his eyes.

Stanley looked somehow paler than before, flashes of what happened again in his mind.

"As I was saying" Mike started again, looking at Richie slightly annoyed, "headmistress Maturin fears the parents will take the kids back home if we don't do something"

"You said at least two of the kids where in the bathroom when it happened. Did you think about..." Eddie spoke.

"The chamber of Secrets? Yes. It was the first thing that came to mind. But we have to be completely sure before checking down there. It's dangerous. I know the basilisk is dead but the place is filled with dark magic. We'll have to be extra careful. We'll leave it as our last option"

"Okay. What do we do?" Bev asked.

"We have to go to Hogwarts. Tonight" Bill said. "We'll go to the prefects' bathroom, we'll follow the path of the missing children. We'll start from there" he poured everyone a drink with the help of his wand, and he sipped it. Firewhiskey burned his throat as he swallowed. Richie was the second one to drink, followed by the others.

"Okay" Ben said.

"Okay" Eddie agreed.

"Hogwarts. Tonight. We got this" Beverly whispered.

As soon as the decision was made, the glasses started to shiver spitting their drinks everywhere, and the bottle of firewhiskey fell on the floor. Stanley and Ben stood up immediately, stepping back. Richie reached for Eddie's shoulder and grabbed it fervently, the other automatically leaning into the touch. The others sit still, frozen, looking at the caramel liquid that was floating from the floor and the table, moving like someone was making it levitate.

"What's happening? Guys, what's happening?" Beverly asked fervently trying to push her chair away from the table. The firewhiskey began to form words in the air.

** _YOU DIE IF YOU TRY_ **

"For Merlin's sake" Ben whispered.

"Oh, fuck" Richie added for good measure, still holding Eddie's shoulder thightly.

Before anyone could say anything more, Mike suddenly stood up and reached for his wand. "Finite" he said loudly and as calmer as he could manage. Immediately the firewhiskey fell back on the floor in fat drops. Bill finally let out a deep breath in relief.

_ **Bill Denbrough makes a decision** _

"What the fuck had just happened?" Eddie squeaked, seemingly terrified. His breath fastened, on the verge of panic.

"I think he just threatened us. He doesn't want us to look for him" Stanley whispered, his voice broken.

"There has to be someone else in the house! This kind of magic is only possible from somewhere near!" Richie said, standing up after a last squeeze at Eddie's shoulder, already holding his wand. "Mike, Bill, come with me. We have to find whoever it is" he had a serious look on his face, the auror had taken the comedian's place. The two men nodded, they were visibly the only clear headed ones in the room.

"No!" Beverly shouted in concern. "It's dangerous! We have to stick together! Don't... we can't split up!"

Eddie nodded his head. "Bev is right Richie, cool down" he said.

"It's because it's dangerous that you can't come. You're all visibly shocked"

"We're okay" Ben reassured, taking control over himself again. "Right, Stan?"

Stanley staid silent.

"Stan? Stanley?" Bill asked, with a worried tone. The man was still staring at the remainings of firewhiskey on the floor. Only when Mike cleaned it all with the help of his wand he finally looked up.

"I'm sorry" he whispered, shaking his head. "I'm sorry guys, I... I tried. I can't do this. I see his face every time I try to force myself to go with you. That spell we just saw... it's something he could have done"

"Stan, Bowers is in Azkaban well guarded by dementors. He has nothing to do with this" Bill reasoned.

"I know, I'm sorry Bill, I'm panicking. I would be useless, I... I won't be with you tonight. I'm out" he said, and disapparated.

"Shit" Richie whispered, closing his eyes in frustration.

"Okay, relax everyone" Bill said, gaining everyone's attention. "Let's have a look around, all togheter. I don't think we'd find anyone, if someone really was here they must be gone for now, but let's do it anyway. I don't want to Risk for Audra to come back home with Merlin knows which dark wizard inside. Immediately after we're all going to Hogwarts. We'll apparate in Hogsmeade and we'll walk to the castle. Are we still okay with that?"

"Of course we're okay with that. It's the only thing we can do right now" Mike answered.

Beverly nodded "I'm in"

Ben followed "Me too"

"Count me in" Eddie said, his voice weak.

Everybody turned towards Richie, he shrugged his shoulders. "Well technically it's my job, so... of course, you'll need someone to save your old asses after all"

A few seconds passed and everybody bursted into a liberating and slightly hysterical laugh.

"Okay, let's go check" Bill finally suggested, and they started wandering around in the mansion.

"Homenum revelio" Mike whispered, leading to the kitchen. The magic didn't show anything out of place. They kept walking towards one of the bathrooms.

"Hey Rich, how's your arm?" Eddie whispered, approaching him.

After another detection spell they saw the bathroom was clear, too.

"It's fine Eds, thanks to you. Your mum will be happy to see me all functioning like this"

Eddie groaned and rolled his eyes. "Not funny. So not funny" he muttered. "Rich, I... I have to ask you something"

"Well, ask then"

"A few days ago we got a cursed patient, we can't figure out what she has. She just keeps floating to the ceiling and screaming in pain, any time we deflate her she sleeps, she doesn't say a word. I was wondering if you arrested someone lately, we should check their wands. We have to figure out what she has soon or I think we'll loose her". Richie stepped closer and Eddie coughed. "May your fucking cologne be damned, seriously. I think I'm allergic to it"

But Richie didn't have enough time to respond because Mike was staring at Eddie with wide eyes.

"What? I have something on my face?" he asked.

Mike cursed under his breath and whispered in frustration "How come I didn't consider that?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Beverly hissed, slightly annoyed for being left out of the conversation.

"You're talking about Sandy Newton, aren't you?" Mike asked, carefully.

"Yes. How did you know..."

"She's our new caretaker. She works at Hogwarts"

Eddie held his breath.

"What? What's that? Who's she?" Ben asked.

"I didn't mention it because she didn't vanish, she just like, fell ill, but the two things may be related" Mike explained.

"What did you say Eddie? She _floats_?" Bill asked and Eddie solemnly nodded.

"Like the firewhiskey" Beverly pointed out.

"That's what I call a clue!" Richie exclaimed.

"But why didn't she disappear like the children?" Eddie asked.

"Maybe this is what it does to grown ups" Bill guessed.

"We can't waste time anymore. We have to go to Hogwarts" Mike declared. Ben's hand immediately reached for Beverly's, who squeezed it reassuringly and looked at him in the eyes.

"Let's go kill this fucking clown" Richie whispered, and everybody couldn't but agree.


	2. What do you fear the most

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Heya Eds," Richie approached as they went out from the bathroom. Eddie coughed.  
"You and your fucking cologne. What's up Richie?"  
The man looked awkward and somehow embarrassed, and that was definitely uncommon. "You... do you remember DADA classes right? You... you are going to be okay, aren't you?"  
Eddie frowned. "Of course I'm going to be okay, Rich. Don't be a Mike, just because you're the auror it doesn't mean you're the only one who knows how to cast a fucking spell"  
"Don't be a Mike? What the hell does this even mean?" Mike protested.  
"Oh Mikey, it's just that you tend to be overprotective sometimes" Beverly said apologetically.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of death from childbirth

** _The Losers' Club has a meeting_ **

The prefects' bathroom looked perfectly normal. It was night already, the half moon shining lazily over the moor, their footsteps echoing through the empty corridors. It was past the curfew and nobody was wandering the school, teachers nor students. Everybody of them had got rid of their working robes and were now in their wizards and witches vests. Everybody except Richie, who had just convinced the minister to let him go during his shift, in the vest of an auror, ministry's cloak moving behind him as he walked.

"I'm afraid we'll have to part ways" Mike said, and Eddie flinched at the words.

"Technically if really something is out there our possibilities are better if we're together"

Richie nodded "Yes, it would be stupid to split up. I don't like it"

"We have to. We have to check out all the places it could have gone to, they're too many for us to go togheter. We'll just have to check and look for evidences and clues in the castle. Use the secret passages too, if needed. If this... _thing_ somehow is an ex student it probably knows them. Besides if we're alone maybe he'll come to take us. But we're no children, we'll fight back instead and if we're lucky we'll get it"

"Yes, and if we aren't..." Ben whispered.

"Please Mike, at least make me and Ben go together" Beverly pleaded.

"I'm sorry Bev, no couples' exceptions this time" Beverly looked hopeless at her husband, who smiled weakly at her.

Bill nodded. "Okay. I'll go towards the towers, the Gryffindor, Astronomy and Ravenclaw ones. Mike, you'll have Divination, headmistress', and owlery tower. Ben, you'll check the kitchen, the Great All and the entrance. Beverly, the first three floors. Richie, the last three. Eddie, you'll go to the dungeons and potion class"

Eddie gulped. "The... the dungeons? I'm not even Slytherin!"

"Nobody here is a Slytherin Eddie, the only one was Stan and he didn't come. It's his fault, not mine" Bill said, slightly annoyed.

"I can go if Eds doesn't want to" Richie reasoned.

"No, you can't Rich. Your eyesight is bad, and it's too dark in the dungeon, you wouldn't be able to see shit even with your glasses on and the biggest Lumos you could manage to cast. Eddie has the best eyesight above all us and he's the shortest after Bev, and we know the dungeons can be a little suffocating..."

"_Suffocating_! Ha! Nice! Perfect!" Eddie exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence and Ben cleared his throat." Okay, let's go guys. As Richie put it, let's kill this fucking clown" he said.

Beverly sighed heavily as the others nodded.

"Heya Eds," Richie approached as they went out of the bathroom. Eddie coughed.

"You and your fucking cologne. What's up Richie?"

Richie looked awkward and somehow embarrassed, and that was definitely uncommon. "You... do you remember DADA classes right? You... you are going to be okay, aren't you?"

Eddie frowned. "Of course I'm going to be okay, Rich. Don't be a Mike, just because you're the auror it doesn't mean you're the only one who knows how to cast a fucking spell"

"Don't be a Mike? What the hell does this even mean?" Mike protested.

"Oh Mikey, it's just that you tend to be overprotective sometimes" Beverly said apologetically.

"That's... that's not true! Billy, say something!"

Bill laughed. "It is true indeed Mikey. But that's exactly why we love you, isn't it?" Ben nodded, smiling. "By the way, let's go. It's late" Bill finished.

They all exchanged worried looks. Mike sighed. "Good luck guys" he muttered.

"Good luck. If something starts to go wrong, send a patronus" Beverly suggested, ghosting a kiss on Ben's lips. He sighed and kissed her hair before letting go.

"Good luck" Richie whispered, looking at Eddie with a pained look.

"Good luck. And be careful" the healer replied with an unreadable expression on his face.

Bill nodded and everybody split up.

_ **Bill Denbrough meets the students** _

He walked through the empty corridor, directed to the Gryffindor tower first. He kept saying to himself it was because it made sense, the tower in question was the eastern one and he would just have to go west after that. Simple. Neat. Unfortunately this wasn't the real reason. The real reason was that he was an overprotective fool and he needed to find out nothing was hiding in the Gryffindor tower as soon as possible because of Georgie.

Bill loved his wife, he really did. But the person he loved the most in the whole world was Georgie. That's why he lied to Audra, and said he was going out for dinner with his childhood friends while she was out for the night. Because she couldn't understand and Georgie was in danger.

Mr and Mrs Denbrough were really young when Bill was born, but they decided to keep him nonetheless. He grew up loved and perhaps a bit spoiled, his pureblood parents existed only for him. When Bill was twenty three and his parents fourthy two, as soon as Bill was hired at the Daily Prophet and he didn't need them financially anymore, his parents decided to try again, even if the healers had tried to dissuade them.

Georgie was born during a nice morning at the beginning of spring, but their mother was too old, and she died in childbirth. Their father left, heartbroken. He never came back. Bill raised Georgie as he was his child.

He had always been a little overprotective with him, because the kid had him, and him alone. Bill was his big brother and kind of his mom and dad, too. He was his best friend, his caretaker, his hero and his only companion.

Now the kid was seventeen and Bill was fourthy. Audra had always accepted Georgie in the family, and, most importantly, Georgie accepted her as his sister in law. They had their fights, but the Denbrough family was strong and the two brothers loved eachother. That's why when Bill saw the Head Boy Gryffindor pin shining at the light of his wand he completely lost it.

"Billy? What... what the hell are you doing here?" a voice whispered.

His brother was wandering with another boy in Hufflepuff robes, in the middle of the steps leading to the tower.

"What the hell am _I_ doing here? I'm investigating! What the hell are _you _doing here in the middle of the night and why aren't you in your dorm?"

"I'm not in my dorm because _I _am investigating!"

"Georgie, tell me this is a joke please. Are you completely out of your mind?"

"Listen Bill, I just..."

"And who are you, by the way? You're going to get in trouble kid!" Bill asked to the other student and felt he was on the verge of freaking out.

"My name is Don Hagarty sir, I just..."

"His boyfriend was kidnapped, Billy! And he asked me for help because no one is going to do any damn thing!"

Bill closed his eyes and breathed. He focused on his heartbeat, trying not to start shouting waking everybody in the castle up.

"Why didn't you tell me you were gonna be here? I would have come say hi, you know!" Georgie hissed, he sounded hurt.

"Nobody is supposed to know I'm here, Georgie"

"So I'm nobody to you, huh?"

"No, of course you're... wait, you're not supposed to trick your way out of this. Go back to your dorm and stay put. Now"

"If you're investigating, we're coming with you!" Georgie whispered. "Right Don?" the other kid nodded.

"No way. No way, it's dangerous out there!"

"If it's dangerous why the fuck are you doing this?" Georgie asked.

"Because I'm a grown up and someone has to. You two are both kids. And if you don't go back to your dorms I'm gonna call the headmistress"

Don flinched at the words. He was already in trouble after the Adrian incident and he feared he could get expelled.

"You were younger than me when you fought Bowers and won!" Georgie protested.

"But at the time no adult was listening. I had to because there wasn't anyone else"

Georgie looked at him in the eyes. "Well, this time adults aren't listening too"

"It's no time to play the rebel teen now, Georgie. I'm escorting you two to your dorms and then I'll go back to what I was doing"

"Please Mr Denbrough sir, we just can't wait and do nothing. I... I love him, I have to try. Let me come with you"

"Absolutely not, I'm not letting two children be hurt for no reason. We'll handle this. Mr Mellon will be completely fine. We'll find him soon"

"We'll _I_ don't want _you _to get hurt for no reason! The aurors are supposed to do this, not you!" Georgie said, a bit louder this time. An old man in a painting shushed him in annoyance.

"The Ministry is clueless, they called us for help and we're gonna help, Georgie. End of conversation" Bill replied firmly.

"Then let us help, too. We're not children" Don insisted.

"Yes Bill, please..."

"I said no. I can't believe we're still talking about this. They called me precisely because it is dangerous here and what do I find? You out of your bed after the curfew trying to play auror. I'm so disappointed in you, Georgie. Please stop talking or you're seriously going to regret this"

"You... you are dick William, I mean it. You're a selfish bastard, that's what you are! I'm gonna lose you like I lost mom and dad and you don't even care!" the teen said, his voice was broken.

"Georgie, for Merlin's sake, cut this bullshit and shut up or I'm gonna get real mad. I said no"

"I hate you!"

_ **Beverly Hanscom finds a ghost** _

Beverly raised her wand and the paintings complained because of the light. She cursed under her breath and kept walking.

_"This is so stupid, we should stick together like last time. This is not gonna work" _she thought, as she checked the muggles studies' empty classroom. She touched her bracelet like a lucky charm and sighed.

The witch closed the door and went quickly to the next classroom, silently slithering in. It was a Defense Against Dark Arts classroom, or that's what it seemed. She finished checking the room with her detective spells and was ready to go out, when a muffled sound made her froze on the spot.

"Who's there?" she asked, turning around towards the sound. No one was in sight. He heard another noise, nearer this time, coming from behind her. She turned again and screamed. Her father, Alvin Marsh, was looking at her, smiling, so near she could feel his breath on her skin.

"Hey, Bevvy" he whispered in her hear, and the witch jumped back.

"This... this can't be. You're dead."

"I thought you already knew, baby. I'll always be with you" the man grinned, looking at her.

"Revelio" she whispered, shaking her head, refusing to believe at what she was seeing.  
The creature that looked like her father laughed. "It's no trick, dear. It's just me"

"Why...? How...?" Beverly asked, as she stepped back. She knew she still had her wand but she was terrified. And it wasn't like she could attack her own father anyway.

"I see you keep practicing your disgusting procedures nowadays"

"They're not disgusting, dad. They're... I'm a witch. I'm a witch just like mum was and you know this"

"Your mother was a monster and so you are. I tried to fix her and then I tried to fix you, but I failed. It's my fault if you're still keeping up with this sin"

"It's not a sin. It's called witchcraft. And it gave me everything good I have in my life"

Alvin stepped closer. "Like that freak of an husband you found yourself? He's as sick as you are. I should have killed you just like I killed your mother, you useless bitch" the man hissed. Beverly widened her eyes in shock.

"You... you what?"

"It's true. What you always suspected, it's true. It wasn't an accident. I killed her because the illness she had couldn't be cured. It was sinful"

"No, dad, tell me that's not true, please..."

"And now, I'm going to kill you too" he said, his skin slowly turning white, his blue eyes blinked and suddenly they were bright yellow, shark theeth being revealed behind his smiling lips.

"You're not my father you're... stupefy!" he casted, but the other didn't even blink. "Pietrificus totalus!" she tried. The other's grin widened.

"Oh sweetheart, this kind of magic doesn't work with me. You're helpless, I fear" he hissed, and Beverly turned her back and ran as fast as she could.

_ **Ben Hanscom loses his hope** _

Ben was going out of the kitchen, were the house elves were sleeping peacefully, a concerned look on his face. This all felt wrong. He turned round a corner, walking fast to reach the entrance, when he heard a pained moan. "Ben. Ben, please... help"

"Beverly?" his eyes widened as he held his breath. "Beverly!" He yelled. "Where are you?"

"Could you just shut up? We're trying to sleep!" a knight in full armour asked sharply from a painting on the left. The wizard ignored him.

"Bev? Bev, where are..." he nearly stumbled on a body on the cold floor. His wife was pale and looked at him helplessly. "Beverly, honey! What happened?" the man asked frantically, kneeling down next to her. "I have to find Eddie. I'm gonna send him a patronus Bev, you'll be fine, don't worry" he whispered with a broken voice. "Don't worry honey, you're going to be okay"

The witch's hand took Ben's, stopping him from raising his wand. "Don't" she whispered weakly. "Don't call anyone please. He can't cure me. It's gonna be useless anyway"

"What are you talking about? Who did this to you baby, what happened?" Ben asked, his voice shaking as well as his shoulders. He was terrified.

"The thing... it... it cursed me. I'm dying Ben"

"No! No, you'll see, Eddie is a good healer, he's gonna fix this Bev, he's..."

Beverly shook her head. "He can't, honey. I'm dying. Please, stay with me, there's something I have to tell you before it happens"

Big fat tears began flowing down Ben's cheeks, he looked at the woman below him in pain. He shook his head. "You don't know what you're talking about, you'll be fine, I know this. Just let me-"

"Ben I... I'm pregnant" the man flinched. "I was planning to tell you after all this because I feared you wouldn't let me come to help if you knew. Looks like you would have been right"

Ben closed his eyes, shaking feverishly his head. "Don't do this to me. Why are you doing this to me? Please..." he sobbed.

"I'm sorry honey. Goodbye" she finally whispered, and then stayed silent. Ben opened his eyes in desperation.

"Beverly? Baby? Please say something. Beverly please say something, don't do this to me Bev, please, I'm begging, don't do this to me..."

Suddenly her body started to shake violently. Ben tensed, looking in horror as his wife was turning into a monster. The wizard jumped back and let out a broken sigh, wiping his tears with the back of his hands.

"You... who are you?" he asked, his limbs still shivering. Not Beverly laughed. It was the worst sound the man had ever heard.

"Do you want a goodbye kiss, Benny?" the thing asked, slowly standing up.

"The clown. You're the clown" Ben whispered, stepping back.

"Correct! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" it laughed.

"You... stupefy!" nothing happened. "Sectumsempra!"

"Sectumsempra? A nice cute little guy like you? I must have really scared you, this time" it said, grinning. His big edgy theeth shined in the dark.

"I'm gonna kill you and then I'll eat your flesh, Ben Hanscom" the thing whispered. Ben quickly turned on his heels and ran away.

_ **Mike Hanlon sees death** _

Mike bit his lower lip in frustration. He hadn't found anything yet and he feared it wasn't going to show up. He needed this to stop and he needed it to as soon as possible. Six students were already missing and he couldn't let it happen again. He loved his students, he really did, he wanted to keep them safe. That's why when he opened the Divination classroom's door his heart nearly stopped. The six students. All of them. Eyes open. On the floor. Dead. Adrian Mellon. Betty Ripsom. Eddie Corcoran. Dean Beaver. Patrick Hocksetter. Victoria Fuller.

"No!" Mike screamed with a broken voice. "No, no, no, no!"

He kneeled on the floor and touched the cheek of one girl, softly on her red birthmark, her empty eyes directed to the ceiling even if they didn't see it anymore. She was the youngest one. Second year, Hufflepuff. Quite lonely, always polite. "Vicky. Vicky, wake up"

He turned around and faced a tall Slytherin kid, a few pimples on his face. He was seventeen and quite annoying, his grades were terrible, but he was still a child after all. "Patrick. Patrick, say something" he begged, then looked up. "Adrian, you can't do this to Don, you can't do this to your parents. Tell me you're alive Adrian, please" the man cried.

"Mikeyyyy" an high pitched voice called him.

"Who's there?" Mike's asked, standing up, leaning protective above the children's bodies.

"Mikeyyyy. Looks like you faaaailed, professor"

"Who's there?" Mike asked again.

"They're all mine now, Mike, and it's your fault. You couldn't be able to protect them. They were your students and now look at them! Look at what you did!"

"Revelio!" Mike shouted but nothing happened. "Where are you, coward? Show yourself, if you're brave enough"

"Next time, maybe... you're not ready yet, I was wrong... you're angry. But you will be scared, and when you will..." the voice chuckled. All of the children suddenly disappeared. Mike looked around in confusion, in the middle of the perfectly empty silent classroom he was in.

_ **Eddie Kaspbrak faces the ** _ ** _truth_ **

The dungeons were cold and scary. Eddie held his cloak, trying to get warmer. Bill was right, it was goddamn dark down there. He was looking into one of the creepy empty rooms in the dungeons that centuries ago were used to keep the prisoners in the castle, when he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"Eddie bear?" the man froze. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He would have recognised that voice everywhere. He listened to it every day as he passed by his mother's painting he had in his house. An awkward attempt to feel better after her death.

"Mom...?" he whispered, turning his back. Sonia Kaspbrak, her best witch robes put on, purple pointy hat and everything.

  
Eddie raised his wand with no hesitation. "Riddikulus" he said, flatly.

The woman frowned, and Eddie blinked in confusion as nothing happened. "Do you think I'm a boggart, Eddie bear? Are you afraid of your own mother?" Sonia asked, his voice hurt.

"You're dead" Eddie explained. He was trying to rationalize the facts, but he felt like he was just about to freak out.

"Yes, I'm dead. That's why I came back. I came back to tell my ungrateful son how bad he was to me!" the woman complained.

"What... what are you talking about?" the man whispered.

"I am dead... because of you" she hissed with a frown.

"What?!"

"Head healer at St Mungo's? Ha! You weren't even able to save your mother!"

Eddie's breath began to fasten. "What you had... nobody could heal that. That curse..."

"You know it's not true. You were scared of me even when I was alive and you chose not to save me even if you could because you wanted me to die"

"It's a lie! Ma it is a lie, you know this, I loved you!" Eddie pleaded, he struggled to breath, bringing his hands to his throat.

"You never loved me! _I_ loved you! You never loved me, that's why you left me!

"I didn't leave you, I moved to another house because I had a job, and..."

Sonia bursted into sobs. "Why did you do this to me Eddie bear? I just wanted to be with you! I just wanted to be with you, and you..." Eddie stepped closer to comfort the woman but she screamed and he froze on the spot. "You left me! You left me and you let me die! And now... I'm gonna let you die, too"

The man stepped back again, wand still raised. "What... what are you talking about?"

The witch started to shift into something else. "I'll kill you Eddie, because you deserve it" the thing said in a creepy voice so different from his mother's.

"What are you?" Eddie squeaked as he casted an offensive spell that didn't work. He tried another, unsuccessfully.

"You're gonna be the next, Eddie. You're gonna be the next. Be careful, I'm coming for you" the thing said as he jumped towards him. Eddie screamed and started running up the stairs.

_ **Richie Tozier gets a kiss** _

Meanwhile, Richie was in the library walking through the shelves, looking for something out of place. He was giving a look to the forbidden section when a sudden noise made him tense and he turned around, raising his wand. When he saw the man he was facing he immediately lowered it.

"Eds, Merlin, you nearly gave me an heart attack" Richie sighed, hand to his chest. The other wizard didn't complain about the nickname and looked paler than usual. That worried him. "Eddie what's... what's wrong?" he whispered, getting closer. His friend grabbed his sleeve and Richie held his breath for a moment.

"I was... I was looking for you, actually" Eddie muttered, biting his lip.

"I'm here. What do you need?" the other urged. He was worried, something was clearly off, Eddie didn't sound like himself, he didn't like it.

"I want to... I want you to come down in the dungeons with me. I'm too scared to go alone"

Richie sighed heavily. "I don't know Eds, if Bill or Mike find out they could..."

Eddie took his hand and Richie stopped talking, frozen still. He cleared his throat trying to distract himself from the touch.

"Please Rich... don't leave me alone, I beg you" the other pleaded, looking directly at Richie's eyes.

The auror moaned in pain as he said "Fuck. Fuck, yes, of course I'm coming. I'm coming with you, I don't mind"

Eddie offered him a weak smile and Richie felt like he could melt on the spot. Probably it was the sleep deprivation but he seriously risked to get caught this time. Get caught staring at him like he shouldn't.

"Thanks, I really appreciate that. I know I can always count on you"

The auror nodded vigorously. "Of course you do. Always"

"That's why I like you" Eddie whispered, squeezing his hand. Richie cleared his throat again in awkwardness, louder this time.

"I like you too Eddie, you're my best friend" he said.

"I know, even if that isn't exactly what I mean"

Richie felt like his heart was going to run out of his chest. "And what... hum, what do you mean?"

The other man got closer, his eyes fixed on Richie's. Their faces were a few inches apart. "I think you know very well what I mean, you're not stupid. I think you know it because you do, too"

"Please tell me, I want to hear it, I don't want to misinterpret what you're saying, I'm going to look like an idiot and your going to hate me. Say it Eddie or I can't..."

"I couldn't possibly hate you, Rich. It's quite the opposite, actually" Eddie said, as he leaned in to kiss him. Richie held his breath as he mirrored the gesture, trying to meet the other man in the middle, but when their lips finally brushed, the person in front of him wasn't Eddie anymore. The auror yelped loudly and jumped back.

"What... what is this?" he asked, wand on his hand.

"Don't touch the other men, Richie. You don't want them to know your secret"

"Who are you? How do you know...?" Richie asked, his voice weak, as he brushed his own lips with his fingers. He looked utterly shocked, then a thought hit him.

"Where's he? Did you... did you do something to him?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm going to" not Eddie replied, and Richie flew out the room.

_ **Beverly Hanscom reveals a secret** _

He ran down the stairs towards the entrance, when he heard voices in front of the kitchen.

"Hagarty! Denbrough! What are you doing outside?"

"Professor Hanlon, we..."

"Mike! Mike listen, we need to find..." he stopped on the spot, mouth open. "Eddie? What's- what's wrong?" The man was sitting on the floor, eyes empty looking to the wall without seeing it. "What happened to him?"

Everybody was already there. Eddie was sitting still, looking shocked, with his back on the wall. Bill and Mike were arguing with Georgie and some other child Richie didn't know, and Beverly and Ben were hugging, whispering in eachother's hears.

"Go inside Don, and thank Merlin I'm not reporting you to the headmistress"

The Hufflepuff child, Don, was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry professor. Thank you professor" the kid said, and disappeared behind a painting near the kitchen's entrance. Mike turned to face Richie.

"Actually Rich, it seems like it happened quite a lot" the wizard said.

"I saw it" Beverly immediately blurted out, "it looked exactly like my father at first. I tried to attack him, but the spells didn't work"

Ben hugged her from the back and rested his head on her shoulder. "I saw Beverly. Well, it wasn't Beverly, but it looked exactly like her. And she... she died in my arms. I saw her dying. And she said... she said she was pregnant" Beverly tensed at the words.

"It was my mom" Eddie spoke weakly, still staring emptily to the wall. "She told me it was my fault she died. She told me I could save her but I didn't. It felt... real"

"It showed me the missing students" Mike followed. "They were all dead"

Georgie held his breath at the words and stepped back. Bill tried to take his wrist to comfort him but he pushed his brother away with his hand.

Richie cleared his throat in embarrassment. Nobody could ever find out. Especially not Eddie. "But only virgins have these visions? That's why I'm not seeing this shit?" he asked awkwardly, already feeling guilty about the lie.

Bill turned to face him confusion. "You really didn't see anything? Me neither, but I thought it was because I wasn't alone. Are you sure Rich? Nothing out of place?"

Richie shook his head. "Nope. Nothing. Not a thing. Anything" he whispered awkwardly.

Beverly sighed. "The people it shows us... they're not real. But what it makes them say... it's the truth. He knows things, somehow"

Richie's eyes flinched over Eddie as he bit his lips. "Why- why do you think so, Bev?"

"My father told me he killed my mother. I always knew it was true, I just didn't want to process it" she admitted sadly.

"But it said you were pregnant and you clearly aren't, so..." Ben started.

The witch bit her lower lip hard. She sighed. "That's the problem. Ben... I am. I'm pregnant" Beverly said. Ben's jaw dropped.

"Well, wow" Bill whispered.

"You're _what_? Why didn't you tell me?" Ben snapped.

"I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't have allowed me to help!"

"Yes, and that's exactly why you should have told me, Beverly! I can't believe it!" he shouted.

"Ben, mate, you'll wake the whole school up. Be quiet" Mike begged. Georgie was looking awkwardly at his feet.

"Okay okay okay. Let's get this clear. Beverly, you're pregnant" Richie said, and the witch nodded. Ben groaned loudly. "That means that it knows the truth. That means what it told us, ahem, what it told _you_... was the truth? One hundred percent the truth?" he asked, looking down at Eddie.

_"That's why I like you" _  
_"I like you too, you're my best friend"_  
_"I know, but that isn't exactly what I mean" _  
_"And what... what do you mean?" _  
_"I think you know exactly what I mean, you're not stupid. I think you know it because you do, too" _

"Why are you asking me?" the other hissed. Richie didn't know how to answer but Eddie kept talking. "You're seriously asking me because you want to know if I basically killed my mother?" the man asked, raising his voice. "That's what you want to hear?"

"No, really, I didn't mean to... I would never..."

"Because I did! Are you happy now Richie?" he sobbed, hiding his face behind his eyes. "I did, okay?"

"Fuck Eds, I didn't mean..."

"No, shut up!" the other yelled. Mike cursed under his breath.

"Okay, so that means it knows us. It tells us the truth. We can use this, at least" Beverly said.

"No" Mike intervened. "No, it showed me that the children are dead. I refuse to believe it"

Bill shot Georgie a concerned look. The kid looked shocked. He sighed and said "Okay. Wait. We know for sure some things it told you all are true. We don't know if all of them are"

"But they could be. True, I mean" Richie reasoned, he sounded hopeful.

"Shut the fuck up, Richard" Ben snapped.

"We could start from here. Tomorrow after work we'll come back to Hogwarts. Maybe we can look for something in the library" Bill finished.

"Everybody said everything, right? I don't care about how scared you are or how bad it was, we can't lie now, everything could be important to find out what's happening" Mike asked.

Everybody except for Eddie nodded.

"Of course Mikey, no lies" Richie said, closing his eyes, guilt unpleasantly filling his stomach.

"Eddie?" Bill pushed.

"That's not... that's not everything that it said to me" the others looked at him worryingly. "It told me it's going to come after me. It said I'm going to be the next" he said flatly.

** _The _ ** ** _Losers'_ ** ** _ Club goes back home_ **

When they finally said their goodbyes everybody except for Mike and Georgie left the castle. They walked down the hills directed to Hogsmeade, Bill, Richie and Eddie silent as Beverly and Ben were arguing.

"Beverly just shut up! I don't want to talk about it!"

"Honey, I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you but..."

"But what? But _what_? We're talking about my child, I have every right to know what's happening!"

"I know, you're right..."

"I'm perfectly aware I'm right, Beverly! I don't need you to say that, I need you to just shut up! Tomorrow we'll talk about this"

"But Ben..."

When they stepped out of the territory of the castle, the two were the first to disapparate. "Fuck, that was awkward" Richie finally whispered.

"It was" Bill agreed, sighing heavily. "Well, see you tomorrow guys" he said, as he vanished with a pop.

"Bye, Richie" Eddie said in a sigh, holding his wand, but the other stopped him.

"Wait, Eds-"

"Don't call me that, you know I hate it"

"Sorry, _Eddie_, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't mean to suggest that you..."

"Well you were right, so what's the matter?" the other said, visibly annoyed.

"I'm sorry. Just don't be mad at me please"

The other man sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad Richie, I'm slightly annoyed, and tired, and scared. Could we just go to sleep now?"

"Please, be careful. It said... if it's really true, as it probably is..."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Say what?"

"Why do you keep saying that's true what it said, or asking if we think it is? It said something to you too, isn't it? Something you want to be real" the man asked.

_"He knows me too well"_ Richie thought, but instead he shook his head and said "No, I would have said that! Of course I would have said if I saw it!"

Eddie shot him with a skeptical glare. "Then why do you want everything to be true? It said the children are dead, do you want this?"

"Of course not!"

"It said it's coming after me, do you want this to be true, too? Because I'm fucking terrified! Do you want to get rid of me?"

"How could you say that? I love you, you're my friend!"

"Well, it doesn't look like it!" Eddie yelled. "Good night, Richie" he coughed. "And please, don't wear that damn cologne tomorrow or it's gonna kill me. If I'll even make it to tomorrow, I probably won't"

"Eds please, don't say th-"

"Don't call me Eds!" the other complained and the second after he wasn't there anymore.

"Fuck" Richie groaned, and apparated in his house, alone with his thoughts.


	3. Break out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No wonder why he was having a nightmare about all of this when the ministry's owl woke him up screeching like hell, flying feverishly in his bedroom.  
"Okay, okay, I'm awake, I got it, okay" he croaked, his mouth still dry. The day prior he had worked for a night shift until early in the morning and he didn't expect anything to disturb him until the evening.  
As soon as he opened his eyes the bird started pecking his hands with urgency, making him bleed.  
"Hey, ouch! I told you, I'm... oooh, fuuuuck" he groaned. The letter the owl had in its claws was an howler. As soon as Richie took it, the hellish thing flew in front of him and started screaming
> 
> "All of the aurors are urgently needed to the headquarters. I repeat, all of the aurors are urgently needed at the headquarters. Henry Bowers had broke out of Azkaban. The Ministry has currently reached the highest level of emergency. I repeat, all of the aurors are needed at the headquarters"
> 
> "Oh, shit shit shit!" the man yelled, jumping out of bed and running to grab his clothes. "Fuck, shit, fuck!" he quick put on the first robes he found, already reaching for his wand.

_05/02/94_

_"Are you sure about that Bill?" Stanley asked, looking hesitantly at his wand._

_"It m-makes sense S-stanley, we still have the _ _tr_ _-trace, we w-wouldn't be able to use t-them even if we br- br- brought them with us"_

_"We could if there will be an emergency" Eddie pointed out._

_"There won't be an emergency, Eddie, just chill" Beverly said softly._

_"We only have to go and take some pictures, that's all" Mike reasoned._

_"Why do we have to do this, Bill?" Richie asked, he looked scared._

_"L-listen guys," Bill explained, patiently. "N-nobody believes B-bowers is hiding in the _ _Sh_ _\- _ _Shr_ _\- _ _rie-_ _... in the Shack. We have to go and t-take evidences or n-nobody is g-going to do s-something. We can't _ _juh_ _-just say we _ _acc_ _-accidentally found him b-because we found a s-secret passage under the wh-whomping willow and w-wandered there to f-find a place to host our cl-clandestine p-party. We'll be ex-expelled and n-nobody would listen, they w-would think it's a j-joke!"_

_"Better expelled than dead" Ben said._

_"We won't die" Beverly replied, her eyes burning. "Nobody knows where Bowers is and nobody is going to stop him if we don't bring evidences with us"_

_Richie sighed deeply and bit his lower lip. "I hate you for this Bev, but you're right. We have to" _

_"Okay, we're all right with this then?" Mike asked. They all hesitantly nodded._

_"But only at one condition" Stan whispered weakly. _

_"Yes S-_ _stanny_ _, everything you w-want" Bill said softly._

_"I don't care what happens, don't leave me behind. Any of you. I don't want to be alone, or he'll take me"_

_"Of course, we would never leave you, Stanley" Mike said gently at him._

_"We won't let Bowers take you, I promise" Beverly assured him, offering him her hand. _

_Eddie closed his eyes in fear and Richie passed an arm on his shoulders, pulling him closer. _

_"Let's go take those pictures" Bill declared, a smirk on his face and his magic camera in his hands._ _ He didn't stutter this time._

* * *

** _Stanley Uris takes a bath_ **

"Are you okay Stanny? I don't think you should go to work tomorrow, you've been weird the whole day, and you don't look any better!" Patricia muttered as she saw his husband coming back home after the night out with his friends.

"I'm fine Patty. It was just a cold. I shouldn't have gone out tonight probably, but you know I can't say no to the guys, we work a lot and we basically don't hang out anymore. But I'm okay. I'm gonna go take a bath and go to bed"

"If you really want to just go, but you'll have to sleep a lot tonight, so go take your bath and hurry!"

Stanley smiled weakly. "Yes, madam" he said, leaving to the bathroom. He put his cloak aside, then his glasses and finally his wand. He sighed in pain, thinking about what happened at Bill's. He couldn't go through this again. What he saw in Bill's living room was dark magic and he was full intended to forget what happened as soon as possible. He filled the bath tube and got naked. When he sank into the water he closed his eyes and tried to chill for a moment.

Suddenly he heard a noise in the bathroom and flinched, his eyes still closed. "What's wrong, Patty?" he asked. When he heard no response he finally opened his eyes and his heart almost stopped.

"Don't shout. Be quiet or I'll kill your wife" Henry Bowers was looking at him with a wide grin. Hair grey, face pale and thin, only one thin hand, the same horrific smile.

"You..." Stanley croaked. "You should be in Azkaban"

"Azkaban, yes. The fine hotel you and your friends sent me twenty seven years ago. You're gonna pay for that, Stanley"

The wizard looked helplessly at his wand, that was currently in a chair up on the rest of hsi robes.

"Unfortunately it asked me not to kill you, but trust me, this is going to hurt" Henry whispered, and everything went black.

_ **The Hanscoms have a fight** _

When Beverly woke up the following day she soon noticed Ben wasn't in bed with her. She remembered why he had decided to sleep on the couch and groaned loudly.

She got off bed slowly, rubbing his eyes with the palm of her hand. She quickly got dressed and went downstairs to check if her husband was already awake. He was.

"Good morning" she said gently, coming into the kitchen.

"Don't" he replied, the man was drinking a glass of warm tea.

"What?"

"You know what, just don't"

"Honey, come on, we have to talk about this"

"Huh, now you _want _to talk about this. Too bad you _didn't want _to talk about this when you discovered you were pregnant with _my_ child and decided to hide this from me and go straight into battle"

"It was just a quick check Ben, it wasn't a battle"

"You could have died, Beverly!"

"So could you! I'm not gonna wait at home worrying for you while you go out risk your life!"

Ben finally looked up from the mug and looked at her in the eyes. "Fine. So we'll both stay at home and we'll wait for our friends to come back and tell us what happened"

Beverly widened her eyes in shock. "You... hear what you're saying! We just can't leave our friends behind like that!"

"No Beverly, you don't understand. I saw you dead. You died Bev, in my arms, you told me we were going to have a child and you died. It was like the worst nightmare I could ever imagine! And you're asking me to bring that to life!"

"I'm sorry for what you saw, but I can't let it control my life, Ben"

"We are family, we have to protect eachother, we have to stay safe, for us! For the baby! Why don't you understand?"

"They're family, too. Bill, Mike, Richie, Eddie, Stan, they're family"

"Stan left anyway! _You_ are my family Beverly, this child you're carrying is our family. Those are our friends. Welcome to adulthood. Now sort out your priorities and stay put"

Beverly shook her head. "No, Ben. I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go to my shop. I'm gonna work. And, you come with me or not, this evening I'm gonna be at Hogwarts with my friends that need me"

"Get out of this house Beverly and I swear in the name of everything that I love, I swear in your name, that I'm not speaking to you ever again" the wizard hissed, his voice broken, his eyes starting to get wet.

"You put it like this huh?" Beverly asked, the first tear down his cheek.

"Yes"

"So be it, then" she finished, as she disapparated away.

_ **Bill Denbrough reads a news** _

"What's wrong, Bill?" Audra asked, as his husband got out of bed, another deep sigh.

"It's nothing" he muttered in response, trying to tie his shoelaces, the events of the night before still haunting him.

"You're worried about Georgie, aren't you? I read another child is missing"

"Yes. I am" he sighed again, then added in his mind _"I had a fight with him because he apparently breaks the curfew with a monster in the castle and I'm worried sick, I'm more scared than I've ever been, and he told me he hates me, I told him he disappointed me and I can't tell you about that even if I love you because I don't want you to be scared, too"_

"I am worried for him too, Bill. But I trust headmistress Maturin. She'll sort it out" the witch said softly, as she touched his back and started to rub it.

"I don't know, Audra. It looks pretty bad. I'm thinking about... I'm thinking about taking him back from school" he muttered, as he stood up._ "He'll hate me more but he would stop trying to sort this out himself. I can't let him get hurt"_

"He's your brother love, you decide. But I'd wait if I were you"

"Wait for what? For another kid to go missing? For Georgie to be kidnapped? Wait for what Audra?" he snapped, but soon added. "I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't mean to yell like t-that. I just c-can't lose him"

"Billy..."

"What?"

"You stuttered. Just like you were a kid"

"It's because it's s-serious, I t-think. I'm worried, I r-really am"

"I'm worried too, love. You know how much I love him. But the other parents seems to be fine with it so maybe we should just wait a bit more"

He didn't even have the time to reply because a massive brown owl flew through the window, a red envelope in his claws. Bill furrowed his brows, taking it carefully. It came from Azkaban. The man bit his lip in confusion. Usually letters like this were sent directly to his office. The fact that he was holding it in his room could only mean there was an urgent news he would have to publish early in the morning.

At least it couldn't be children related as it didn't come from hogwarts. He ripped off the envelope and read the letter as fast as possible. He fell down back in the bed, his hands to his face. It was like the world had just fallen into pieces in front of his eyes.

"Bill? Billy? What's wrong?"

"Henry B-bowers. He br-broke out of Azkaban yesterday night"

"What did you just say?"

** _Eddie Kaspbrak got a visit_ **

Eddie was having a rough day at work. He was overwhelmed by the ton of things he had to do and he didn't even sleep properly during the night. The day before all of his friends found out what a coward he was. They already knew he used to be terrified of his mother and he had always been, but probably they didn't know how much before. When Sonia Kaspbrak fell ill with dragon pox Eddie obviously knew how to heal her, he was a good healer, for fuck's sake. He knew how to heal her but he was still so afraid of her that he took the chance and let her die.

He didn't know why he was feeling so mad at Richie at the moment. After all, everything he asked was if what the thing said to him was true. It was a totally legitimate question, considering the situation they were facing.

And yet, he hated he had to face truth one more time. He hated he had to face the truth in front of his friends. He hated he had to face the truth in front of him. If Richie started thinking he was an hideous person for what he did to his mother, he didn't know how he could take it.

When he entered in the ward he was head healer of, this kind of thoughts haunting his mind, the last person he expected on meeting was the witch he found in front of him that morning.

"Patricia, what... what are you...?"   
The woman had red puffy eyes and as soon as she saw him, she raised from the chair she was sitting on and ran to hug him thightly.

"Eddie! Oh, Eddie, I'm so glad you're here!" she sobbed, and Eddie rubbed a hand on her back, trying to comfort the woman.

"Patty what... oh Merlin" he gasped. Next to the woman in 6A, the one that came from Hogwarts two days prior, there was Stanley. He was apparently sleeping, he looked naked under the bed sheets and Eddie knew all of a sudden that he was here for the same reason of the witch in the bed next to his. The floating curse.

"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..." he whispered in her hear as the woman kept crying.

"They told me they've no clue about what it could possibly be... I can't lose him Eddie, he's everything I have... he was screaming... screaming so much and he kept floating towards the ceiling..."

"We'll sort it out. I swear, we'll sort it out. You won't lose him, I promise"

"Eddie...?" they were interrupted by one of his colleagues, another head healer from the broomsticks' accidents ward.

"I'm busy, John" Eddie said, slowly letting go of the woman.

"It's urgent. I... I need you to come with me. _Now_." the man sounded so weird, almost blank, that Eddie excused himself in concern, Patricia gave him a small nod as he came back to the chair next to her husband.

"What's wrong? As I said I'm busy, that curse these people have is..."

"I can't talk about it in front of everyone but trust me, I've a good reason" the other replied with an unreadable tone in his voice.

They walked in silence, fast and nervous. "Come inside" the man whispered, and quickly entered what was supposed to be a changing room for the nurses. It was dark.

Suddenly, John let out a loud gasp. "Eddie, Eddie I'm sorry!" Eddie turned to face him and he was about to ask what was going on but he kept talking. "He used the imperius curse on me, he forced me to do it!"

"What are you talking about, Jonathan?" he asked, fear in his voice.

After a moment of silence, Eddie heard a voice he always heard in his nightmares. "Well, well, well doctor Kaspbrak, welcome" the voice said, and all the muscles in Eddie's body tensed.

"Bowers" he squeaked in horror.

"You did great John, but I don't need you anymore. Avada Kedavra" a green flash lightned the room for a moment and the man collapsed to the floor. Eddie yelped in surprise.

"Don't shout or I'll kill you" the dark wizard ordered, and Eddie kept his mouth shut, his vision adjusting to the darkness. He raised his wand, ready to fight, his heart crazy in his chest.

"You look older, Henry"

"Well I had plenty of time to get old in Azkaban, don't you think? And now I'm here to take my revenge. It gave me freedom and now I'm following its will"

Eddie hold his breath. "Why are you here?"

"Because it told me you were supposed to be the next. I'm not going to kill you unfortunately, but it's gonna hurt like hell. Ask your little friend Stanley"

"It's gonna hurt me only if you take me"

"You think you can fight me? You've always been naïve, Eddie"

"Stupefy!"

"Crucio!"

The two spells crashed in the middle of the room, blowing up the mirror and the chair they found in their way with a loud crash.

"You're only gonna make things harder if you keep doing this" Henry hissed.

"I'm not a child anymore. Bombarda!"  
The wall behind the dark wizard bursted into pieces Eddie smirked. He didn't have a chance against Bowers but at least he could try to call for help leading all the people in the hospital towards them with a huge mess.

"Sectumsempra!" Henry shouted and Eddie didn't have enough time to cast any protection spell because the curse hit him straight to his face. Suddenly everything he could feel was pure pain as he fell on the floor, and everything he could see was blood. It was like half the skin on his face was completely ripped off. He heard Bowers snort as he approached him with a grin. With all the strength in his body he managed to hold his wand again and weakly raise it against Henry. "Diffindo" he whispered, but he didn't have time to see if it worked because he finally passed out.

** _Richie Tozier gets woken up_ **

Richie Tozier was a mess. They had faced a killer freaking clown the night before and all of what he could manage to think about was Eddie. Their fight. How he was mad at him. The kiss he thought they were going to share. The way it made him feel. His hopeful feeling that maybe the clown was right, maybe he did have a thing for him, too. How fucked up it was? No wonder why he was having a nightmare about all of this when the ministry's owl woke him up screeching like hell, flying feverishly in his bedroom.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake, I got it, okay" he croaked, his mouth still dry. The day prior he had worked for a night shift until early in the morning and he didn't expect anything to disturb him until the evening.

As soon as he opened his eyes the bird started pecking his hands with urgency, making him bleed.

"Hey, ouch! I told you, I'm... oooh, fuuuuck" he groaned. The letter the owl just brought to his house was an howler. In the exact moment Richie took it, the hellish thing flew in front of him and started screaming

_"All of the aurors are urgently needed to the headquarters. I repeat, all of the aurors are urgently needed at the headquarters. Henry Bowers had broke out of Azkaban. The Ministry has currently reached the highest level of emergency. I repeat, all of the aurors are needed at the headquarters"_

"Oh, shit shit shit!" the man yelled, jumping out of bed and running to grab his clothes. "Fuck, shit, fuck!" he quick put on the first robes he found, already reaching for his wand.

When he arrived at the Ministry and came in through one of the officer's entrances, he soon found there was a real mess. The biggest mess he ever saw at his workplace, actually. The place was more crowded than ever and loud, so loud that Richie froze for a moment with his mind numb, trying to process all that was happening. _"Fucking sleep deprivation" _he thought, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey Richard" Chloe, one of his colleagues, approached him with a frown. "I'm sorry, it's really all messed up, I know you worked last night but we're gonna need everyone here today"

"It's fair, I'm okay. It's not like I need to sleep to function" he joked, and that only worsened the witch's frown.

"Richie listen, I know you and Bowers have a backstory, and..."

"You make it sound like he's my ex boyfriend. I mean, I don't exactly dislike bad guys but I'm more into annoying as fuck but secretly a softie. And Bowers is kinda gross anyway"

The other blatantly ignored him, "...and I know you're usually in charge because you arrested more people here than any of us but I don't think your mind is clear enough to lead any investigation right now. Is it okay?"

Richie closed his eyes and scratched his head. Merlin, he was tired, and scared, and confused, maybe Chloe was right. "Fine _boss_, you're in charge now. Tell me what to do now"

"Langdon and Evans are already on the site, they're questioning the guards and checking the dementors. I need you to stay here in case someone will spot him anywhere in the country. We're waiting for him to show himself. I feel like it's only a matter of hours. Go have a coffe, or firewhiskey, or what the hell do you need to wake you up and come back immediately. We have to be ready to intervene as soon as someone calls us"

"You're sexy when you're bossy Chloe, have anyone told you before?"

"I know I am. And fuck you. Now go" the witch said and the man nodded, following her orders. He was quite glad he wasn't in charge, he had a lot of things in his mind right now. The last thing he needed after the day before was his personal nightmare Henry Bowers out of prison. What a way to start a day.

It turned out Chloe was right, because one hour and a half later every drill in the minister started to scream. A big patronus eagle, Richie recognised it as the secretary's, flew into the auror headquarters shining like the sun and spoke loudly for everyone to hear.

_"Henry Bowers was spotted at St Mungo's. Every auror currently in the station is required to apparate on the site. All we know is Bowers already killed one of the head healers and severly injured another. Everyone, be careful"_

It took a few seconds for the man to process what he just heard and the words made his heart froze. Suddenly he felt like he was going to pass out.

_"Bowers already killed one of the head healers" _the image this words inevitably formed in his mind was unbearable. He brought a hand to his chest, trying to focus and make his head stop spinning.

_"No. No. Please no, please" _he thought, turning slowly to face his colleagues, eyes wide and pure fear on his face. He knew there could be only one reason why Henry Bowers should head to St Mungo's. And the reason was revenge. _"It can't be. Not him. It has to be someone else. Not him, please, everyone but not him"_

"Didn't you listen? Hurry! We have to go before he runs away again" Chloe shouted and all the aurors at the Minister instantly disapparated all at once.

"This way!" one of the nurses said and a dozen aurors flew up the stairs straight to the second floor, Richie news acting automatically without thinking, his mind completely blank.

They finally entered a room that had one of the walls completely blew up. The floor was covered in glass shards and dust from the explosion. A body was already under a black sheet, it had to be the corpse. Richie had seen a lot of this kind of black sheets before, for the exact same purpose, but none of them had ever scared him like this one. Richie's eyes lingered on it, his breath stopped for a moment. He forced himself to shift his vision and he nearly screamed, covering his mouth with both of his hands.

Next to the body under the sheet, there was Eddie. He was laying down on the floor completely knocked out, he was perfectly still. It looked like he was dead. Half of his face was covered in blood, so much that the man was almost unrecognisable. The only eye Richie could spot in that bloody mess was half open but it clearly wasn't seeing anything, it was like an empty shell. Richie thought he was going to throw up and stared in utter shock. Two other healers were kneeling next to him, murmuring some healing spells.

"Where's him? Where is Bowers?" he heard one of the colleagues say, he didn't even understand which one of them.

"He disapparated as soon as we called you" The aurors cursed. Richie didn't care.

"Who are these men?" Chloe asked.

"The victim was the head healer of the broomsticks' accidents ward, Johnathan Connor. I think he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The other one is Edward Kaspbrak, head healer of our charm related injuries section"

"Edward Kaspbrak? Why do I remember the name?"

"He was one of the kid that defeated Bowers the first time in nineteen ninety four" one of the other aurors answered, probably Samantha.

"Yes" the nurses continued, "we have another one of them here too, Stanley Uris. He arrived this morning, he's in bad conditions"

Richie flinched at the words, now focusing on the conversation. "Stanley? Stanley's here?"

Chloe turned to face him and shot him a glare. "I'm sure the two things are related. Richard, you know them, I want you to stay here and interrogate them both once they recover. And then I want every one that helped defeating Bowers twenty seven years ago under protection protocol. You included. Bowers is clearly trying to haunt them down"

"Me?" Richie protested weakly, still in shock. "I can't be under protection protocol I... I _am _the protection protocol!"

"I won't accept no as an answer, Richard"

** _Mike Hanlon finds a book_ **

"I have to go now, the lesson is finished" Mike said, closing the book in front of him. "Tomorrow we'll start with the transfiguration of mammals. You can read chapter seven of your book this evening to be ready for the next lesson. If anyone will come with their hair successfully turned in a different colour, their House will gain ten points. You can't dye your hair and tell me you casted a spell, because I'd find out and you'd lose twenty points. Now you're free to go"

The students thanked him in unison as they stood up and walked out of the room, chatting and stretching up after nearly two hours of Transfiguration class. One of them didn't leave, approaching him at his desk as he stood up and collected his books and parchments he used for the lesson.

"Denbrough"

"Excuse me, professor Hanlon. I'm here to ask you a question"

Mike looked up to face the boy. He looked a bit scared but his eyes were firm. "Go ahead"

"I know you finished the lesson earlier to go on with your investigation. I want to help you with that"

"No" Mike simply replied, walking through the classroom and finally going out. Georgie ran awkwardly after him.

"But professor..."

"No, Denbrough. I don't want you to interfere and even if I did your brother could actually kill me if I let you anywhere near all this"

"He won't know I'm helping! We... we won't tell him!"

Mike finally stopped walking, and faced him with a deep frown. "I'm an estimated teacher Georgie, I won't lie to a partner of mine about a serious issue only because one of my students wants to play hero"

"I don't want to..."

"You're lucky I didn't tell the headmistress you were out of your dorm at midnight yesterday. I only took your house points"

"Yes, fifty of them!" the boy huffed.

"Are you _complaining _Denbrough?"

"No! No, I'm not, I'm thankful, I really am!"

"You gave Adrian Mellon the prefects' bathroom's password the night he got kidnapped and yesterday you were out of bed after curfew. Ask me something like that again and I'll be forced to expell you"

The face the kid made after that made clear that what he suspected was right. It was him who gave Adrian the password that night. "But sir..."

"Go to the dungeons and wait for your potion class, now. We're done. You could use your extra time to start your homeworks" the man insisted, and he walked to the library.

He greeted the librarian and walked through the shelves, kids studying sitting at the tables. He made it to the forbidden section and sighed.

He hated being strict with the children but Georgie had to be discouraged. He could seriously get hurt and Mike couldn't let it happen. Firstly because he loved all of his students and the thought of losing another one of them made his heart ache, secondly because Bill wouldn't forgive him if something happened to the child because of his reckless behaviour.

He carefully looked for some books about fantastic animals and took three of them that looked soaked in dark magic. He sat at one of the tables and started reading.

The first two books didn't reveal anything. The third was what it looked like the oldest of them. He opened it with a sigh, the pages dusty and yellow because of the age. Something in him clicked. Somehow, he knew there was something particularly wrong and yet right in this book as he kept to leaf through. He was halfway through it when the inked sketch of a clown with shark teeth smiled at him from the yellowish page. He gasped.

"Yes" the wizard whispered, as he began reading.

_Pennywise is a magical creature ancient as magic itself that is said can _ _eat_ _ fear, like a boggart. The main differences between a Pennywise and a Boggart are the following:_

_One, there is no evidence_ _ of _ _Pennywise's_ _ existence, while _ _Boggarts_ _ are pretty common in the Wizarding World_ _._

_Two, Pennywise usually kidnaps the children he wants to eat the fear of, and hides them in its nest. When the children lose so much hope they aren't scared anymore, the Pennywise eats their flesh too, ending their suffering._

_Three, when_ _ Pennywise attacks adults, the victims turn in a state of constant pain and float a few feet on air, the pain consumes them until their death. _

_The only cure for the the floating curse is believed to be_ _:_

_Three ozs of dragon blood_

_Two leaves of moonlight violet_

_Twelve drops of crystal water _

_The potion has to rest for an hour and then it has to be spinned clockwise two times. The healing effect is supposed to be _ _immediate_ _. _

_Without a cure, adult victims of the Pennywise usually don't stay alive for more than five days._

_Pennywise likes to build its nest in wet places like caves, tubes or sewers._ _It usually prefers cold environments to warm ones._

_ _Despite the uncertainty of its existence, Pennywise is considered one of the most deadly creatures in the Wizarding World and it's said it leaves a long trail of death everywhere it goes._ _

_It isn't known for certain how to kill or neutralise this kind of monster. An ancient latin tale that tells about defeating Pennywise ends with the line "_ _ Omnia  _ _ vincit _ _ amor _ _", love conquers all things._

_The meaning of the sentence remains unclear._

Mike stood up and closed the book in a hurry, grabbing it, and ran feverishly to the howlery. He had to write a letter to St Mungo's and he had to do it as soon as possible. He had the cure.

Then he would have had to write another one to his friends.

_"Omnia __vincit__ amor" _he thought, as he flew up the stairs.

** _Bill Denbrough does an interview_ **

When Bill got in the hospital, letter of the Minister in hand, he was worried sick, but at least he had somehow managed to calm down his breath and he wasn't stuttering anymore, at least for now. He knew this could change at any moment.

He walked fast through the corridors and made his way to the spell related injuries ward, looking for the room 7B. Before he could get inside, an old nurse with a crooked nose stopped him.

"I'm sorry Mr Denbrough, the press isn't allowed inside. The Ministry is already interrogating the patient"

"It's okay" a loud but shivering voice came from inside the room. "He's with me" Richie appeared at the doorframe, he looked like shit.

The nurse moved out of the way, nodding silently. Bill hugged his friend, whispering "How's him?" in his hear.

"You'll see" the auror replied. "Stan is here too. He's not awake, though. He's in bad conditions, they say. They didn't let me inside because he couldn't answer my questions anyway"

"Stanley? What... what happened?"

"Bowers, that's what happened. Eds was just about to start telling me how it went. He just woke up"

Bill nodded and they entered the room. All the other beds were empty. Eddie was lying in the one on the left near the window, far from the door. He was awake and looked almost fine, but he was still clearly weak and tired and he had a bad large scar on his cheek that disfigured his face. His skin was paler than usual. Richie sat down in the chair next to the bed and took the other's hand in his, almost absent mindedly. Eddie didn't seem to mind.

"Hey, Big Bill. Please, don't look at me like that, I already know it's hideous" Eddie said with a weak sad smile.

Bill flushed, and forced himself to stop staring at the scar on his friend's face. "I don't know what you're talking about"

Eddie snorted. "Yes, totally convincing, thanks mate"

"It's not hideous" Richie blurted out. Eddie shot him a skeptical glare. "I think it suits you, actually" he muttered.

"Well, thanks Rich" he replied, and then he cleared his throat. "Okay. There's a lot I have to tell you, so listen" he slowly got up enough to be sitting, a pained look on his face, his back resting to the headboard.

A parchment and a feather flew out of Bill's cloak, ready to take notes.

"Are you seriously going to publish on your fucking magazine what I'm going to say, Bill?" Eddie groaned.

"Well, technically that's why I'm here" he justified himself.

Richie looked at him with a frown and he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not gonna publish _everything,_ obviously. Just start talking and don't mind the feather okay?"

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Okay. Cool. First things first: Bowers told me _it _sent him to me" the other two widened their eyes. Richie quickly grabbed his wand and casted a muffliato charm towards the door. They could not be heard with this one.

"Really? _It _like..." Bill asked, the feather already writing furiously.

"Really. It like the thing that's at Hogwarts. He told me it freed him, and asked him to go after me. And after us all, I suppose" Eddie sighed.

"Second, he told me he was the one who attacked Stan too, yesterday night when we were at Hogwarts. I've seen him, trust me, you don't want to know what he's like right now. And we don't know how to heal him. We have to hope Bowers knows it, we'll force him to tell us as soon as we get him"

Bill closed his eyes in fear and Richie shook his head.

"Last but not least... I think he's severely injured. When I was on the floor, after he hit me, before I passed out... I took my wand back and casted a spell. He didn't expect me to do it, that's why I hit him, I caught him off guard" Eddie explained.

"You hit him _after _he ripped off half your face? Savage, man!" Richie exclaimed.

"I couldn't stop him from killing John, though. He was too fast" Eddie sighed, closing his eyes.

"You did your best Eddie, no need to feel guilty. You did great, actually" Bill reassured.

"At least I think that since I probably made him bleed, and he certainly can't come here to be healed, that will give us some time before he comes back trying to take me or any of us"

Richie bit his lips and frowned. "Speaking about this... my colleagues want to put all of us under protection protocol. We can't let that happen, or they will get in the way of our investigation"

"What do you suggest we should do Rich?" Bill asked.

"I don't know. We have to find Ben, Bev and Mike soon. I think I could try to bargain with my people and ask if we could stay in Hogwarts instead, it's commonly considered a safe place, and there's Maturin, so I think that could do it"

"Do you seriously think they would send us all to Hogwarts instead of protection protocol, asshole?" Eddie asked.

"You hurt me, Spaghetti! You clearly underestimate my charme among aurors and their trust in the headmistress"

"Okay, and what are we going to do next, if they let us?" Eddie asked, rolling his eyes. The other two exchanged a perplexed look.

"_We _are not going to do anything, Eds" Richie said.

"Don't call me Eds"

"Seriously Eddie, you can't come. It's too dangerous. Look at you!" Bill reasoned.

"Bullshit, I'm not leaving you, you wouldn't last an hour without me. What if some of you gets hurt and I'm not there to heal you?"

"That's the point, Eddie, _you_ already got hurt" Richie pointed out.

"It's just a scratch" he huffed.

"Just a scratch? Bill, say something!"

"Eddie, really, we don't need your help" his friend helped him.

"Yes, you do. They healed me, I'm okay. I just need a bit of rest, give me an hour and I'll be perfectly fine. Trust me, I'm an healer"

Bill looked like he was thinking about the options they had. He bit his lower lip, lost in his thoughts.

"Billy, listen, you didn't see him like that, it nearly gave me an heart attack! I thought he was dead!"

"That's because you wouldn't recognise a dead man even if he just had his head cut off in front of your dumb face" Eddie protested.

"Don't trick your way out of this Eddie, this is not happening"

"You can come" Bill finally said, and Eddie cheered. Richie turned to face him, brows furrowed.

"What?"

"We'll need as many people as we can get, Richie, and Eddie looks almost fine" Bill explained.

"We'll need as many people as we can get? I don't remember you saying that to Georgie yesterday" Richie hissed.

Bill froze at the words and said flatly "That's a totally different thing"

"Listen Rich, we already saw that splitting up is not an option. Stanley left and look at what happened! I was alone and Bowers got me! We have to stick together. Together is the safest for all of us" 

The auror couldn't argue anymore so he sighed, rolling eyes. "Whatever. But if you die it's your fault, not mine" he muttered.

"Richie, go back to the Ministry and ask for the bargain. I'll go tell Ben and Bev about what happened. Eddie, rest for as long as you need and then join us. We'll meet at Hogwarts in two hours"

Eddie nodded, he looked relieved. Richie was still uncertain but he had to agree. Bill was their unspoken leader, after all. He shot Eddie a final look and then sighed again. He gave a last squeeze to Eddie's hand and looked up at his other friend.

"Okay Big Bill, let's go"

The parchment and the feather flew back to Bill's cloak as the two men turned their heels and left.


	4. Crossing the Rubicone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm sorry, you know" Richie whispered, breaking the silence, as they looked for the love potion Mike suggested them to.  
"You're sorry for what?" Eddie asked, a little bit confused, opening one of the sideboard's doors.  
"I'm sorry I've been a little, hum, suffocating today. I know you hate it because it reminds you of your... I just said she was abusive and she didn't let you live your life and I'm kinda doing the same thing. I shouldn't have asked you not to come. It's only that I truly believed you were dead for a moment and I'm still trying to... it's hard to..."  
"It's fine" the other interrupted. "I can tell the difference. She never cared about me, she was overprotective because she wanted to keep me under control, as you said. That's a totally different thing"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crossing the Rubicone is a metaphor that means "to pass a point of no return". It comes from Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon river with his army in January 49 BC. The event precipitated the Roman Civil War, which ultimately led to Caesar becoming dictator and the rise of the imperial era of Rome.

_ **Beverly Hanscom has an heart to heart** _

"What do you mean with Ben_ is gone_?" Bill groaned, as Beverly sent out the customers and closed the shop. After his small talk with Richie and Eddie he had apparated in his office, published everything he could about Bowers' break out and the attacks, carefully avoiding to say anything about _it_, and he quickly reached for Ben and Beverly. Well, only Beverly apparently.

"You know Bill, if you guys keep showing like that and force my customers to go out nobody's gonna come anymore, I need a job to live" the witch said flatly, ignoring the question.

"Beverly, listen, I don't know what happened between you and Ben but you have to fix this up because Bowers is out of Azkaban, he escaped, and he's hunting us down"

"Bowers what?!" Beverly's jaw dropped, eyes wide, for a second she forgot even that the love of her life left her one hour prior.

"He already attacked Stan and Eddie. They're both at St Mungo's right now. The thing at Hogwarts sent him to chase us. We have to stick together. Nobody can be left alone, do you understand?"

Tears began to form in her eyes as the stress of the day came out all at once. Shock coming down her spine. "What am I supposed to do, Billy? He left. I don't know where he is, I have no idea!"

"Good thing is if we can't find him probably Bowers can't, too" the wizard sighed.

Beverly brought her hands to her face, utterly shocked. "I told him it was a bad idea. I told him we should have stayed togheter, but he wouldn't let me go with you and I left and he told me he wouldn't have talked to me anymore if I did and when I came back he was... he was gone. So stupid. So reckless and fucking stupid" she sobbed.

The man in front of her looked at her in pain. Beverly was a fierce woman and she never ever cried. It was hard to watch for him. That's why Bill came closer and enveloped her in a hug. "We can't blame him, Bev. I have family too, I know how it feels. Me and Georgie, we had a fight yesterday. I didn't let him help, too"

"Georgie is a _child, _Billy. I am a woman. It's different"

"Well, you're carrying a child, aren't you?"

The woman tensed in the hug. "Bill, I..."

"Listen, I am not saying he's right. I think he's not. I'm saying I understand. But I understand you, too"

She hugged him back with all the strength she could manage, grabbing his robes as she kept sobbing helplessly. "If he's alone because of the fight we had and Bowers gets him I would never forgive myself, Bill"

He started caressing her back, gently whispering comforting words in her hear. "We'll find him, Bevvy. Or at least he'll come back. Nothing is gonna happen to him. I promise. He loves you, he'll come back. Give it time"

She slowly stopped crying, the sobs becoming less and less as the minutes kept passing. When she finally gained a bit of control, she gently pulled apart. "Thanks Bill. I love you, you know this"

The other caressed her cheek as he smiled fondly. "I'll always love you, Bev. You're my best friend"

Suddenly her broken expression turned to a concerned one as she remembered. "Eddie and Stan. How... how are them?"

Bill shook his head with a frown. "Stanley is... it's bad, it's really bad. The healers didn't let me see him, but Eddie says he only either sleeps or screams in pain floating, nothing else"

"Oh Merlin" Beverly whispered.

"Eddie got a sectumsempra in the face. It was pretty bad too, at least that was Richie said, but the healers know how to fix it. Just please don't mention about the scar he's got, he's... sensitive about it. He will come with us probably. He's feeling weak but he can function. We could use some help, I guess"

Beverly rolled her eyes and huffed. "Richie lets Eddie come after a sectumsempra in the face and Ben's being so insufferable with me"

The wizard furrowed his brows in confusion. "What the hell has Richie to do with that?"

Beverly smiled weakly. "You know Bill, to be one of the smartest people I know sometimes you can be really stupid" she smiled. The other didn't seem to get what she was saying. "But I'm only complaining and you didn't tell me how you feel, dear. I am really the worst friend in the world. What happened with Georgie? How are you?"

The wizard sighed as he looked helplessly at his feet. "Teenagers. They think they already know everything, that they're mature enough to do what they want. You saw him yesterday night, he was out after the curfew"

"Did you yell at him, honey?"

Bill shook his head. "But only because I couldn't. I couldn't yell at him because it was late at night and the students weren't supposed to find out we were there in the middle of the night. But Merlin, I wanted to. When I saw him wandering around like it was nothing I lost it Beverly. I lost it. I was so scared... I told him I was disappointed in him. He looked so hurt Bev, he didn't even say goodbye when I left"

"He's a teenager Billy, you said it yourself. Give him a week and he won't even remember it. Trust me"

"I don't know. I don't know, he said... he said he hated me" Bill whispered.

"Oh dear, you know he didn't mean it, right?"

"Yes. But he said it anyway. Parenting his... it's hard. They think the words they say don't affect us because we're grown ups, but they do. Well, at least they affect me" he sighed.

Beverly smiled fondly at him as he squeezed his shoulder. "Let's go to Hogwarts, now. We have to make sure no one goes missing. Ben will know where to find us if he wants to" she whispered. She bit her lip not to start crying again.

The man offered his arm and smiled. "Apparate with me, Mrs?"

"Gladly" she replied, sad smile but love in her eyes.

** _Mike Hanlon handles the_ ** _ ** situation** _

When Bill and Beverly apparated in Hogsmeade and made their way to the castle, Richie and Eddie were already there with Mike and an auror delegation. They were talking loudly, arguing with one another.

"Here they are! See? Everything's under control!" Richie exclaimed, as they were approaching them.

"One is clearly missing, Richard" one of the auror complained.

"Beverly, where is Ben?" Mike asked, his head aching terribly.

The woman shook her head, visibly shocked. "We couldn't find him. We had a fight this morning and he left. We have no idea where he is" she said worryingly.

"Fun - fucking - tastic!" Eddie cursed, arms folded, back on the wall. Beverly noticed the ugly scar on his cheek and remembered Bill's words, so she decided not to mention it.

"Okay guys, one of the possible targets is missing. His name is Ben Hanscom. We'll start looking for him now. Muryard, send a patronus to the headquarters" one of the aurors, tall with a frowned expression, asked to another seemingly kinder one, who nodded and did as requested.

"Richard, you have to understand we're letting you do this only because it's you" a woman in Ministry's robes said sharply.

"Heya princess, I got it. We'll stay here, we'll be good, easy peasy, out of trouble, won't we?" Richie asked, and Mike nodded firmly.

"Mr Denbrough, you won't be able to publish anything related with where you're hiding untill Bowers is back in prison, are we clear?"

Bill rolled his eyes. "Merlin, I'm not stupid"

The aurors ignored his response.

"Headmistress Maturin is okay with this, she's been already informed. I'm supposed to go update her as soon as we finish this conversation"

"Well, conversation finished, then" the auror in charge declared, shooting all of them a warning glare. They didn't look impressed. "This is your protection site now. Go out and you're breaking the law" the witch said.

"Yes, whatever honey, now leave us alone, we're good. The turtle's here, she'll protect us and everything, bye bye" Richie huffed.

The woman looked like she wanted to reply but she didn't. She gestured her colleagues to turn back and they obliged. "We know the way" one of them muttered, noticing that Mike was about to lead them towards the entrance. Beverly rolled her eyes.

"Your people are insufferable, Richie" Bill whispered as he saw them go away. The students looked at them in awe as they started going out the classes all of a sudden, that meant it was noon and they were directed to the Great Hall.

"They're not my people. _You_ are my people" Richie said, offering a smile.

"Okay, I'm going to meet the headmistress. Richie, Eddie, I informed you about what I found, tell the others and try to sort out what the hell does it mean" Mike sighed.

"You're the Ravenclaw bud, I've really no clue" Eddie complained, rolling his eyes and finally unfolding his arms.

"Try with some amortentia just to start somewhere. I'm going now, be discreet. And Bill, go find Georgie, he's been off all morning, he won't be able to study if you two don't fix whatever's going on"

Bill huffed. "He's a teenager Mikey, you know how they are, he said he hates me, he doesn't want to see me right now"

"Your brother your choice bud. But I warned you. See you later guys" Mike finished, walking away pushing kindly the students that were lazily wandering in the corridors. He distantly heard Richie explain about the Pennywise and sighed.

He made all the way to the headmistress' office and he whispered the password, finally getting inside.

"Welcome, professor" he heard, as he approached the headmistress' desk.

"Thank you, Mrs" he replied, and after a small nod she gestured him to sit down. He obliged and the woman waited, patiently.

"I have found a book, I... I know what's haunting the school"

"I know" she said with a condescending smile.

"I found a cure for the floating curse, St Mungo's already been informed"

"I know"

"I found also how to stop him, I think I understand what the latin instructions mean"

"I know"

Mike sighed and forced himself not to roll his eyes up. He stayed silent. The woman kept staring at him. "Go on" she said.

"If you already know-" Mike started.

"Go on, professor Hanlon"

Mike huffed. "I understood what the meaning of the sentence is. I know how it's supposed to be stopped. But I didn't tell my friends I do"

"I know"

Mike bit his lips hard not to snap at her.

"Why didn't you tell them?" the witch asked.

"I think you know why"

"Tell me anyway"

"For the same reason you didn't tell me about Pennywise even if you already knew what it was from the start. Because they have to find out themselves, otherwise it won't be effective"

"Omnia vincit amor. Very well" the witch said. "Michael," she whispered and Mike held his breath. It was the first time the woman called him with his first name. "You are a smart man. You know that even if all of your friends understood, and they probably won't, if you go down there you could never come back"

"Of course I do"

"But you also know that if you don't go the children will keep being kidnapped and they'll eventually die"

"Yes"

"What I'm asking is... would you die to save your students? Would you willingly chose to die to protect them?"

The wizard stayed silent for a moment. He processed what the woman had asked. Suddenly, his bracelet started to shine with magic. "Absolutely" he replied.

"I know. I always knew. Now you do, too"

_ **Eddie Kaspbrak smells a potion** _

"Remind me why are we doing this, Eds" Richie asked him, pushing an Hufflepuff kid away with a huff. A Slytherin one glared at him with a frown.

"Because I offered to go to potion class to get the potion and you didn't want me to go alone" Eddie replied, flatly. "And don't call me Eds"

"Looks like it's your fault, then" Richie whined.

"I didn't ask you to come with me, asshole"

"But you knew I would never let you leave my sight after what happened, Spaghetti" the man said, trying to pinch his cheek. Eddie slapped his hand forcing on himself an annoyed expression and failing miserably.

"Mr Tozier! Mr Kaspbrak!" they heard, and turned round to face the sound. Don Hagarty was running towards them with an hand raised. Eddie sighed.

"Listen kiddo, if you're here to ask us if you can-" Richie started, but the boy hugged him instead, not letting him finish the sentence.

"What?" he asked, looking at Eddie in confusion. The other shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" Don apologized, letting go of the man. "I just wanted to say thank you"

"Thank you?" Eddie asked, brows furrowed.

"Yes. I know you won't let me help you, I understand even if I don't agree with you. It's just that... no one was actually doing something before you came. And now... now I'm hopeful. Thank you for what you're doing"

An awkward silence followed. "You, hem, flatter us, kid. We're only doing what has to be done" Richie said.

"We know you're scared, you have all reasons to be, I won't lie to you. But we know what we're doing and if you really want to help us the only way to do it is to be with your friends, don't go alone anywhere and absolutely don't go out of your dorm after the curfew" Eddie suggested.

Don's smile faltered but it didn't disappear. "I know. Thanks, really. I have to go now, it's lunch time. Keep me updated, okay?" he asked.

"Of course, buddy" Richie replied, smiling at him. The boy turned his heels and left, sad smile but filled with hope.

"He's a nice kid, isn't he?" Eddie sighed.

"Yes. It must be hell. Losing the person you love like that, not being able to help. It could kill me if it ever happened to me"

"We're lucky you're not in love with anyone, then. These are pretty dangerous times"

"We really are lucky, indeed" Richie whispered bitterly, as they started walking again. The corridors slowly began to empty as minutes passed, children looking at them in suspicion. They stepped down the stairs that lead to the dungeons, crossing groups of young Slytherins chatting with one another in the way down.

"I miss Stanley so much in moments like this" Richie finally said, looking sadly at them.

"Me too. But we'll be reunited soon. Mike said he sent all the instructions for the cure to the healers, probably he's already fine"

"I hope so. I remember when I used to come down here after we had a fight, how I waited for some Slyth to go out of the Common Room to ask them to make him come outside. He always did. He always came, at the time"

"He was the first one you became friend with, I remember it"

"Yes. We met on the train the very first day. Then we got sorted into different houses but that never stopped us. We pretended to be annoyed with one another all the time but we almost never were. We still do it, sometimes"

"He's going to be okay, Rich. You trust me, right?"

"You know I do" the man replied with a hesitant smile.

Eddie sighed with relief. That morning he feared that after what happened his friend didn't want to talk to him for a while, because of what he did with his mother and after how Eddie treated him sharply at the end of the night. But when his friend saw him unconscious on the floor, when he thought he lost him, and later when he woke up, all of what happened between them the day before was already gone and they clinged to each other like they always did, perhaps more. 

As he too aknowledged this, Richie found himself thinking again at what not-Eddie told him in the library and at how it could possibly be true.

"Even if you know how I really am, now?"

"What do you mean? I've always known how you are. We've been friends for ages"

"Yeah, but you didn't know I pretended not to know how to heal the illness of my mother because I wanted to get rid of her. That sucks, doesn't it?"

He heard the man sigh heavily as he scratched his head.

_"Here we go" _he thought. _"Now he's gonna tell me he doesn't even know why he's down there with me"_

The answer Richie gave him wasn't the one he was expecting. "I don't blame you"

"Excuse me, what?"

"I don't blame you. I know how she was with you. She was an abusive mother, always trying to keep you under control... she made you feel miserable and weak. And you didn't kill her. Her illness did"

"But I could have..."

"It was self defense, that's all. I don't blame you just as I wouldn't blame Beverly if she told me she killed that fucking asshole his father was" the man said, leaving Eddie speechless.

They finally found the potion class and got inside. "I'm sorry, you know" Richie whispered, breaking the silence, as they looked for the love potion Mike suggested them to.

"You're sorry for what?" Eddie asked, a little bit confused, opening one of the sideboard's doors.

"I'm sorry I've been a little, hum, suffocating today. I know you hate it because it reminds you of your... I just said she was abusive and she didn't let you live your life and I'm kinda doing the same thing. I shouldn't have asked you not to come. It's only that I truly believed you were dead for a moment and I'm still trying to... it's hard to..."

"It's fine" the other interrupted. "I can tell the difference. She never cared about me, she was overprotective because she wanted to keep me under control, as you said. That's a totally different thing"

"So you... you don't mind?"

"I don't mi- ha!" the sudden scream startled Richie who looked at his friend in concern. "I found it! Look!" the man showed him proudly a small crystal bottle filled with a pink glittering liquid.

Richie approached him with a winning grin. "Great Eds, let's go back to the others" he said.

"Wait, I have to be sure it's what we think it is. And don't call me Eds" the other muttered opening the bottle. He gave it a smell and coughed furiously. "Could you please stay away from me? I can't smell a damn thing because of your damn cologne, how am I supposed to figure it out?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't wear it today. I had to run out of the house in a hurry this morning, plus I didn't want you to complain all the fucking time"

Eddie's eyes widened as a knowing look passed on his face. He cleared his throat, looking away from him. "Well, some of the students or the teachers has to have it, then, and I smelled it in the room"

"If you say so..." Richie said, biting his lips. He didn't want to thinking what he was about to think. It would have hurted too much to find out he was wrong. He cleared his throat shushing away the thought that the man he's been in love for years had just smelled his perfume in a bottle of amortentia. It couldn't be. There had to be really some of the students that owned it and Eddie smelled it in the room. Obviously. Eddie couldn't possibly like him back, that was out of question. "What about the potion?" he asked, trying to clear his mind.

"I don't know, it's probably okay I guess, I don't care" he muttered.

"You don't... okay, Mr weird, give to me, I'll try"

Eddie silently handed it to him, eyes focused on the ceiling in embarrassment. Richie smelled it, breathing deeply, then looked up at his friend for a moment. His eyes lingered on him, taking advantage of the fact that he was looking away.

"It's... it works" he whispered. "It's perfect, actually"

"Mh" Eddie gave as his only reply.

"Do you want to know how I know that this works?" Richie asked, with an hesitant voice.

"How do you know?" Eddie's whisper was so low it was a miracle Richie heard it.

"It smells like your mom". The strong slap that landed right on Richie's cheek was totally worth it.

** _Ben Hanscom reads a magazine_ **

Ben was wandering around in London with his hands in his pockets. He had transfigured himself into someone blonde and shorter than him. He didn't want to be found and he was quite famous in the Wizarding World for both the Bowers' incident and his work as the Ministry's architect.

He cried a lot that day. He cried a lot thinking about his decision to leave. He loved Beverly, with all his strength, with every cell of his body, but what she did was unforgivable for him. She lied to him, she chose to hide something so important he couldn't even believe it.

He had every right to know, he had every right to be consulted about the decisions that regarded his own child and he had every right to be mad. And he was. Merlin, he was so mad at her he thought he was going to be crazy. He was so mad he feared that by the end of the day he would have to be dragged to the long term residents' ward of St Mungo's because he completely lost it. The idea somehow made him laugh.

He desperately wanted to think about something else but he couldn't. And not only because he was deeply convinced he was right, but for two reasons that made him be mad to himself, too.

Firstly, he was concerned. He was worried for his friends because Beverly was right, they were his family and he abandoned them in a moment of rage. He was worried for Beverly, because she still intended to go help with the investigations, and she was pregnant, and probably heartbroken because of him, but still she wanted to go help her friends because she was amazing. Not to mention she was the woman he was endlessly in love with and he already missed her, after all.

Second, he felt guilty. He didn't think he was wrong, quite the opposite to be honest, but he thought he made a mistake, nonetheless. He was right to be mad at her but he didn't have to leave like that. That only made it worse.

He felt tears in his eyes and suddenly he was crying again.

_"Fuck" _he thought, wiping the tears with the sleeves of his robes. The muggles passing by looked at him in confusion, his cloak waving behind him as he walked. He knew he wasn't being discreet, but he couldn't care less. They would probably think he was wearing a costume, anyway.

After a while he decided that he couldn't risk it, not because of the muggles, but because of the other wizards and witches that could spot him in the crowd. All of his clothes screamed _wizard, _he was crying and he certainly looked careless. He didn't want any problem, so he absent mindedly headed to Diagon Alley. Beverly should have already moved to Hogwarts, so he didn't risk to run into her.

When he arrived at the Leaky Cauldron nobody gave him too much of attention and he felt relieved. He sat down quietly and waited for the waiter as he grabbed one copy of the Daily Prophet to think about something that wasn't his wife or his friends.

That didn't work.

That didn't work because in the first page there was a big grin smiling at him. The face of Henry Bowers looked at him in the eyes from the newspaper.

_Henry Bowers broke out from Azkaban. Two wizards injured, one dead._

Ben froze in his seat and read carefully the article, holding his breath. He read the names of Stanley and Eddie and suddenly felt sick.

_"Beverly, I have to find Beverly, if he finds her before me I'd... I'd..." _just as the waiter approached him he stood up quickly, making the chair fall on the floor with a loud thud.

"Do you need something, sir?" the man asked, Ben looked at him with wide terrified eyes.

"No, I'm sorry, I was just going away" he whispered, his breath was starting to fasten and he feared his heart was beating so fast it could have jumped out of his chest.

Suddenly, he didn't feel mad anymore, nor angry. He didn't feel guilty, he didn't feel right. The only thing he was feeling was pure horror as he ran to the bathroom to disapparate as soon as he could.

_"Please, let me arrive on time. Please, let it not be late. It can't be late, Merlin, please" _he thought, and before vanishing the only thing that came to mind was Beverly's auburn hair.

** _Georgie Denbrough has a paper boat_ **

Georgie was laying down in bed in his dorm room, even if he knew it was lunch time. He wanted to be left alone, and above all things he didn't want to run into Bill again. He knew his brother was in the school, he heard his House mates talk about it in the morning, some of them were excited, some others were slightly annoyed, scared that the strangers' presence would increase the risk of attacks.

The only thing Georgie felt about all of this was hurt, Bill's words still echoing in his mind.

_It's no time to play the rebel teen_ _ now, Georgie._

_They called me precisely because it is dangerous and what do I find? You out of your bed after the curfew trying to play auror. I'm so disappointed in you._

_Georgie, for Merlin's sake, cut this bullshit and shut up or I'm gonna get real mad. I said no._

The boy closed his eyes trying hard not to cry. He only wanted to help his friend. He missed Adrian, they were in the same Quidditch team and were quite close to eachother. And now he was worried for him and for Bill too, and nobody listened. If there really was someone being childish it was Bill and not him, no doubt about that. He was the one playing hero. Only because he chopped some Dark Wizard's hand off when he was thirteen it didn't mean he would be capable to fight whatever was hiding in the school.

_"He's gonna leave me like mom and dad did" _Georgie thought and bit his lower lip focusing not to cry. He looked down at his trunk and jumped off the bed. He opened it and immediately found what he was looking for. He grabbed the tiny paper boat and looked at it, even if he already knew its features by heart.

_S.S._ _ Georgie_

When he was little, before Audra, there was only Bill and him. His brother worked a lot, he had to, but he never made Georgie feel lonely. He was in his mid twenties at the time, and put a lot of effort into spending all his free time with him. He used to make little paper boats for him and make them fly with magic, that was their thing. Georgie wanted to become a sailor as an adult, at the time. He smiled sadly at the thought. When he had to move to Hogwarts, when he turned eleven, he had to bring one of the boats with him. He sighed deeply and put the paper in the pocket of his uniform.

There was only one way to both prevent Bill to get hurt and make him understand he wasn't a child anymore. And the way was finding Adrian, Betty and the rest of the kids all by himself.

That's why he slowly crossed the room and got into the empty Common Room. That's why he passed the Fat Lady and found himself in the desert corridors of the castle. That's why he headed straight to the prefects' bathroom.

As he got inside, he immediately felt the thick wet air filling his lungs. The boy put one hand in his pocket and touched his paper boat like it was a lucky charm. He meticulously checked one toilet after another, opening all the doors and having a quick look inside. Nothing happened.

Nothing happened until he opened the last one.

"Georgie! Georgie is this you?" a voice said, coming from the WC. The boy sighed in relief and looked down. He couldn't see anything but toilet water.

"Adrian! Adrian is this you?"

"Yes, I'm here! All of us are! Me, Betty, Dean, Patrick, Eddie, Vicky... we're waiting for you"

"You're waiting for... me?" the boy asked.

"Of course we are! It's so fun down here!" Adrian chuckled.

The voices in his head started to slowly hypnotize him, as he smiled dreamily at the words. "Is it?"

"A lot! We're all floating down here, do you want to join us?"

For a brief second Georgie seemed to gain control, as he frowned "I don't know, my brother..."

"You don't have to worry about that" Adrian's voice whispered, and Georgie's conscience lost its hold on him again. "He's gonna come here to, come here soon... we're gonna float all togheter..."

A shadow rose over him, but he didn't feel the presence behind his back. When two white stinky arms folded him all of a sudden he didn't even flinch, smiling softly as the creature carried him down towards the Chamber of Secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that Georgie is gone, believe me, we definitely crossed the Rubicone. I hope you'll like how the events will turn from here!


	5. About bravery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse of rage and frustration shined in Bill's eyes as he reached for the other man's collar and grabbed it. "D-do you think t-this is a joke, Eddie?"  
The wizard shook his head, and Bill started to shake him holding his collar with one hand and his neck with the other. "D-do you want Juh-georgie to die Eddie? Or is t-there another reason for y-you to make me w-waste time like t-that?"  
"Please don't get mad Bill, I'm just scared" Eddie croaked.  
"Y-you asked me to c-come earlier, now y-you're coming, a-are we clear?"  
"Bill, mate, there's no need to..." Ben tried to reason.  
"Are we c-clear?"  
"Bill, you're hurting me"  
"If you're not letting go right now, you're going to regret it, I swear" Richie hissed, touching Bill's back with his wand threateningly. Mike put an hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

_05/02/94_

_Bill carefully threw a rock towards the tree, his chaser abilities finally becoming useful out of the match, and hit a small knot near the base of the whomping willow. Suddenly the tree froze still, and the kids ran inside carefully. The small corridor, as they knew very well, was dark and short._

_"I hate this" Richie complained, he was the second tallest among them after Mike and he had to bow to be able to walk there. The place smelled like wet dirt, and the air was thick and heavy._

_"You deserve it for all the times you mocked me for my height" Eddie whispered back._

_"Guys, be quiet, he could hear us!" Ben interrupted what was a newly born bicker with a scared tone in his voice. _

_They stayed silent after that. Sometimes Mike and Richie moaned in pain as some roots that hanged from the ceiling hit their heads. When the small tunnel finally ended, the kids sighed in relief_.

_They were in a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up._ _ It was the Shrieking Shack._

_"_ _R-remember_ _ guys. We have to _ _s-stick_ _ togheter and b-be quiet. I _ _w-will_ _ take a pic without him _ _n-_ _noticing_ _ and then w-we'll go back to _ _s-school_ _" all of them nodded as Bill reminded them of the plan._

_"Let's go guys and be quiet" Beverly whispered, as she stepped on the severly damaged stairs. They all slowly followed her lead, trying to hear if someone was in the house. They refused to think Bowers was outside and that they would have had to come back again the day after._

_Silent as they were, extra careful to not be heard, they started to spread into smaller groups without noticing. Beverly, Ben and Mike were the first to split up, turning around a corner and inadvertently closing the door behind them. _

_Immediately after, Eddie was left alone in the first floor, as he silently stopped to look inside a devastated bedroom after hearing a sudden noise. When he realised his friends weren't with him he couldn't call for them not to alert Bowers of their presence. _

_Finally Stanley, left behind by Richie and Bill in the second floor. He soon _ _aknowledged_ _ he was alone and started to panic. He opened one of the doors carefully, the door making a tremendous shrieking noise, so high it startled him enough to make him scream. The high pitched sound echoed in the empty silent rooms like a bomb just blew up in the middle of the house. The boy covered his mouth with his hands, utterly terrified. Soon Richie and Bill appeared behind him, eyes wide._

_"Stanley! What happened?" Richie asked frantically, running to his friend. _

_"__W-what__ the hell, S-stanley? Are you __ins-_ _ins-_ _san-__ crazy?" Bill whispered, shaking him by his shoulders. _

_The boy started to ugly sob in front of them._ _"You left me alone! You promised! You left me alone and I panicked!"_

_When Beverly, Ben and Mike heard Stanley's scream, they all tensed._

_"What happened? What happened?" Ben asked worriedly, looking up towards the ceiling. _

_"It was Stanley, we have to go! He's in danger!" Mike said as he slammed open the door he was facing, hoping it lead back to the stairs. As soon as he opened it, they froze._

_"What the fuck?" Beverly asked after a moment, with a shocked grin. Because the door didn't lead to the stairs. It was much better. That door lead to the broomsticks' cabinet._

_Eddie was the less lucky of them. In the exact moment he heard Stanley scream, someone close to him heard the boy, too. The door in front of him opened with a thud and he squeaked in fear._

_In front of him there stood a man, dressed in dark robes. His blonde greasy hair long with a mullet. His face was strained in a ugly frown._

_"Look, look, look at what I found. A hogwarts student. I was just looking to some way to have fun. You're not alone, are you kiddo? Where are your friends?" the man asked with a grin. Eddie kept silent. Bowers tilted his head to the side. _

_"You're not going to make this easy, it seems. Good boy, I like it better this way. You'll tell me soon" the man raised his wand, smiling even wider. "_ _Crucio_ _" _

_And Eddie screamed._

* * *

** _Stanley Uris wakes up_ **

When Stanley woke up, the first things he saw were his wife's eyes. The woman jumped on her seat, taking his hands in her, happy tears in her eyes.

"Stanley! Oh Merlin, Stanley, you're awake! You're awake!" she whispered and kissed his knuckles, brushing softly her lips to his hands.

For a moment the wizard felt so overwhelmed with love that he forgot everything else, looking fondly at the woman in front of him.

It only lasted a few seconds, because soon his contented face turned into a worried one. "Patty, Patty, it's Bowers. I have to tell the others, he's..."

"I know, dear" she replied softly, caressing his cheek indulging on the scars that framed his face as she always did.

"What... how... how do you now? Did he threaten you?" he tried to sit up but soon noticed he was still too weak to.

"No hon, I didn't even see him. After he was done with you, the bastard came here and attacked Eddie too. He told me that"

"Eddie?" he whined. "How's he?"

"He's okay, don't worry. He didn't get to do to him what he did to you. But he managed to kill one of the healers, unfortunately" the witch sighed.

"He has to be stopped I have... I have to go join them"

Patricia frowned at the words. "You're not going anywhere. I nearly lost you yesterday, I'm not letting you out of my sight until like, forever"

"You don't understand, I have to go, I have to! Bowers is going to find them, we have to be together when it happens! Mike was right we have to..."

"I don't want to hear it, Stanley. They're under minister's protection protocol, nothing is going to happen to them. You're going to stay here with me. I won't accept no as an answer. You're too weak, it would be reckless and stupid. Your friends will be fine and even if they won't I won't let you die for this foolish selfless behaviour"

Stanley sighed heavily, thinking about the chances he had. He obviously wasn't going to be able to go anywhere at the moment. He decided he would have waited to feel better and then he would have sent Patty upstairs to buy him something to eat to distract her.

He gave her a small nod and offered her a smile. "I guess I really have to be stuck with you, haven't I?"

She smiled back, instantly relieved. "I'm sorry honey. It's for the better, you know it. They're cool people, they'll be fine"

"I hope you're right. I really do" Stanley sighed. "Who's her?" he finally asked, looking at his roommate in the other bed.

"She's Hogwarts' caretaker, she had the same disease as you. But she's been attacked two days ago. She's going to need more time to wake up" Patty explained.

"Wow, sucks thinking it could be me" he whispered. The witch squeezed his hands hard.

"You can't imagine how much" she said softly. That's when Stanley noticed her wet cheeks and understood she's been crying before he woke up.

"I'm sorry love. I'm going to be okay. I love you, you know this right?"

The woman nodded silently, closing her eyes and bringing Stanley's hands on her face. "I love you too, Stan"

Less than one hour later, the wizard was able to sit on the bed. He chatted with his wife patiently. He was an accountant, he worked with Goblins and those two things meant he had definitely learned the art to be patient long time ago.

Patience and caution, with a generous dose of cunning, helped him to become the youngest head accountant at Gringott's and the first human one. He knew how to calculate risk and how to wait for a plan to get on its rails. So, when he asked Patricia to help him go to the bathroom one hour and a half later, he discovered he could actually walk and grinned widely. He said he was too embarrassed of the healers and slowly got dressed with the help of his wife as well. He sat back on the bed and smiled at her.

"Honey, please, I'm starving. Could you please go upstairs to the café and buy me something to eat? A sandwich, maybe" the woman nodded vigorously and kissed him briefly on the cheek.

"Be right back, love"

"I can't wait" he answered, and she disappeared behind the doorframe.

As soon as she was gone, the man inhaled and exhaled air to calm down. He asked to himself if he should really do it. If he was brave enough. He knew he was still weak, he knew the risk of getting hurt or worse was high. He was still hesitant as he stood near the bed and grabbed his wand from the bedside table.

Then he thought about them. All of them. He thought about Bill, Mike, Ben, Bev, Richie and Eddie. And he knew he would have died for them if he was asked to. As soon as he acknowledged this, his bracelet started to glow.

He looked at the woman in the bed next to his, and whispered: "I'm doing this for you, too".

The second later he was in Diagon Alley.

** _Bill Denbrough breaks down_ **

"Professor Hanlon! Professor Hanlon!" Sadie Dukes, fifth year, Ravenclaw, approached him after lunchtime, before the beginning of the afternoon lessons. She sounded worried and Mike put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"What's wrong Sadie? Just tell me"  
The girl looked at him with wide eyes, and he nodded encouragingly.

"It's Georgie Denbrough, sir. We can't find him anywhere"

Meanwhile, Bill, Beverly, Richie and Eddie were chatting in the library trying to figure out the meaning of the words written in the book.

"Omnia vincit amor" Beverly said out loud, thinking intensely.

"Love conquers all things" Eddie echoed, and Richie sighed deeply.

"Do you think this is really going to help?" Bill asked, looking at the amortentia bottle on the table.

"I don't know, we could try to throw it at Pennywise and see what happens" Beverly muttered.

"Yes, good idea! We should make him drink it so he'd fall in love with one of us and he won't try to kill us anymore!" Eddie exclaimed sarcastically.

"I volunteer you, Eddie!" Richie joked.

"Why so, asshole?"

"You're little, if it doesn't work and it kills you it won't gain much strength from it"

"Fuck you, mate! Seriously"

"Why don't we just go down the tubes? Here it says Pennywise hides in tubes and sewers. At this point it's one hundred percent sure it's in the chamber of secrets" Bill suggested.

Beverly shook her head. "Mike says we have to figure out how to kill it first, otherwise it's gonna be useless"

"I think an Avada Kedavra will do just fine, Bev" Richie commented.

"I tried to cast spells against it, magic doesn't work" Eddie whispered, shaking his head.

All of a sudden, the library's door slammed open and Mike looked at them with an unreadable face. The bracelet in his wrist was glowing intensely.

"What's up, Mikey?" Beverly asked, furrowing her brows. "What did you do to your bracelet?"

"I don't know" he lied, it looked like he was in a hurry. "I have to tell you something, now. Bill, please, sit down" the man ordered.

"What the hell Mike?"

"Bill, please, sit down" he repeated. The wizard looked at his friends in confusion. They looked back at him with the same expression on their faces, so he obliged. Mike stayed silent for a moment.

"You're starting to scare the hell out of me, Mike" Bill said, trying to keep calm and wait for the news.

"I know, sorry, I don't know how to say this"

"Just do it, then. Don't think" he suggested. The others were holding their breath.

Mike stayed silent for a bunch of seconds, then inhaled deeply and said, hesitantly: "we can't find Georgie anywhere"

Bill tensed immediately at the words. Beverly stepped closer to him and stood behind the chair his friend was sitting on. She gently grabbed his shoulders and squeezed them.

"What does it mean?" Bill asked, unnaturally calm, closing his eyes. "What does it m-mean, Mike?" he asked again, louder this time.

"He wasn't in the Great Hall at lunch. His friends assumed he was in his room, since he's been in a bad mood all day and he said he wanted to be alone. But it turned out he wasn't in his dorm either, nor in the common room, nor any of the bathrooms"

Bill opened his eyes, all of them noticed they were already wet. "M-mike..." he whispered, his voice broken and so desperate Mike wished he didn't have to do this. "M-mikey please t-tell me it's n-not what I'm..."

"It means he's missing" the man said, pain in his voice too as he pronounced the words.

"It's m-my f-fault. It's my f-fault" soon the man was breathing so fast he noticed oxygen wasn't reaching his lungs.

"Hey Billy, it's okay brother" Richie tried to reassure him.

"No it's n-not. He w-wanted to be alone because he was m-mad at m-me. It's my f-fault and now he's g-g-gone"

He closed his eyes again trying to collect his strength enough to stand up. He had to go and take him back. He didn't care about what the hell the words in the book meant, he had to. Even if it meant dying in the process. When he opened his eyes and got up, his bracelet was glowing, too. Everybody but Bill seemed to notice.

"What the fuck?" Eddie muttered, looking at his friend.

"I'm going" Bill said, pushing Richie and Mike away from his way and walking fast to the prefects' bathroom.

"Bill! Bill wait! Where are you going?" Mike shouted running behind him. The others followed.

"I'm g-going down there"

"We're not ready yet, we can't! We have to figure out what the sentence on the book means, first!" Beverly reasoned, trying to keep up with the rest of them.

"I don't f-fucking care"

"Bill, seriously, it's not a good idea..." Eddie said, trying to grab his cloak to stop him.

"You d-don't have to come if you d-don't want t-to. I'll go alone"

"Are you insane mate? Do you want to die?" Richie asked hysterically, students looking at them in confusion as they passed by.

"If I have t-to, so b-be it"

"You can't be serious Bill, we'll figure this out together"

"I'm g-going. Come with me if you w-want, if you d-don't I don't c-care. I'm gonna get Juh-georgie. Period"

When they finally arrived in the bathroom, Bill wiped his tears whit his sleeve and went directly to the sink he knew the entrance was under. Many years ago the Chamber was opened for the first time in centuries, and the basilisk was killed not before it could make many victims. Now every Hogwarts student knew where the access was, as well as the fact they should never go there.

Next to the sink, they saw something small on the floor. Bill immediately recognised it as he kneeled down and took the little paper boat in his hands. He sobbed, and his friends kneeled with him, holding him thightly.

Bill rested his eyes, letting his friends hold him, Richie and Mike on his left, Eddie and Beverly on his right. The last words he exchanged with his brother echoing in his head.

_"I'm so disappointed in you, Georgie. Please stop talking or you're seriously going to regret this"_

_"You... you are dick Bill, I mean it. You're a selfish bastard, that's what you are! I'm gonna lose you like I lost mom and dad and you don't even care!"_

_"Georgie, for Merlin's sake, cut this bullshit and shut up or I'm gonna get real mad. I said no"_

_"I hate you"_

He finally stopped sobbing. The others let out a sigh.

"T-thanks guys, I n-needed t-this"

"Are we still going, honey?" Beverly asked tenderly as they slowly stood up.

"I'm g-going. I don't k-know about y-you"

"We won't ever let you go alone Bill, you know this" Mike whispered.

"Okay. L-let's do it, t-then"

Richie and Bill raised their wands and togheter moved the enormous marble sink, making it slither on the floor. It revealed a dark smelly well, Beverly glanced a look in there and felt goosebumps on her skin. Eddie gulped, stepping back.

** _Ben Hanscom asks for forgiveness_ **

He was going to say something, something he knew his friends wouldn't have liked, when the bathroom's door slammed open again.

It was Ben. As soon as he saw them the man fell on his knees on the spot, his red puffy eyes only for Beverly. He looked like he had been crying for hours, his cheeks were flushed because of the run. He didn't say anything at first, he only stared, and no one interrupted him, and for a moment even Bill seemed to focus on something that wasn't Georgie.

"I'm sorry. Bev, I'm sorry" he croaked, and as soon as he said the words, his bracelet shined so hard it was impossible to look at it. "I regretted leaving the second after I did. I was so mad at you I said things I didn't mean, things I would never mean. Please, I know you know this. Please"

The others looked away, embarrassed. An awkward silence followed, and Richie opened his mouth to break it with some stupid joke, but Eddie noticed and slapped his neck in advance, so he kept silent.

Beverly stepped towards her husband, she didn't say anything. She was clearly trying to control her breathing as she looked at the man in shock.

Hearing no answer, Ben decided to keep talking. "What you did... it made me sad. I'm not here to deny it. But I shouldn't have left. I should have understood. I was being overbearing, I was. When I was wandering out in London and I read the news I discovered that Bowers was out of prison, that he was looking for us. And I knew... I knew I had to come back. I knew if he found you first I would have hated myself untill my last breath, I had to see you. If you forgive me for what I did I swear I won't ever leave you again. Never. Beverly..."

The woman stepped closer again and breathed deeply. Her shoulders were shaking lightly. She kneeled in front of him and without saying a word she cupped his cheeks and kissed him on the lips.

Bill cleared his throat, looking awkwardly at the ceiling. Mike shot him a glare.

When the couple pulled apart, Beverly's bracelet was glowing, too. She hugged Ben, putting her chin between his neck and his shoulder, inhaling his scent. The man looked awkwardly at his friends, Eddie shrugged looking back at him. Mike had a winning grin on his face.

"Beverly, baby, what does this mean? I'm a bit, hem, confused" Ben croaked out loud. Richie chuckled.

"This means I love you and I'll never lie to you, ever again" she whispered, and gently kissed his neck. Ben closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation.

When they heard Bill huff in frustration, they seemed to realise they weren't alone, and stood up.

"I'm g-glad you're here B-ben, but we have to hurry up. It b-brought Georgie d-down this hell hole and we're g-going to take him b-back. Are you with us?"

The man held his wife's hand and squeezed it. "To the end of the world, my friend"

Eddie looked down in the well and sighed again. "Yes, Bill, regarding this, I have to tell you that I, uh..." but he didn't make it because a surprisingly loud voice suddenly asked.

"Heya, am I still invited to the party?"  
Richie tensed and turned to face the door. There was Stanley, tired for the run but safe and sound. He was standing firmly on his own legs, and he was smiling. The wrist with the bracelet on it was shining.

"Stan!" Richie roared, and one second later he was fiercely hugging him. The man laughed and hugged his friend back.

"Stanley dear, are you okay?" Beverly asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Thanks to you, Mike. Well, at least for now. Patricia will probably kill me once I come back, but I'll have to face it later" he replied as they pulled apart.

"That's how it is supposed to be. Togheter" Ben said.

Stanley got closer to Eddie and looked at him slightly worried. "How are you man? I heard he visited you as well"

"Well, you see..." the man sighed, touching his badly scarred cheek.

"I see. Now we match!" he joked, showing the one he had on his chin and jaw.

"Now we match" he said with a sad smile. "Will I ever like it? Because now I hate it" Eddie asked, hopeful.

"I don't know. I started to like it when Patty started telling me she loved it"

"Oh, well, so I won't. Fine, I'll get used to it anyway"

"Don't be so hard with yourself, Eds" Richie commented in a whisper.

"Don't call me Eds Richie, it's not that hard" he replied, rolling his eyes up.

_ **Eddie Kaspbrak gets a prep talk** _

"Okay, now that we're t-together let's g-go" Bill said firmly, stepping towards the well, ready to jump inside. Ben and Stanley shared a perplexed look.

"Is he stuttering again?" Stan whispered to the other.

"Bill, stop!" Eddie shouted, grabbing his cloak.

Bill groaned. "What n-now Eddie?" he snapped.

The man looked anxious. He touched his bracelet as a reflex. "It's just that... all of your bracelets except Richie's and mine are like... light up? And I guess it means something? Maybe we really should wait for a while don't you think? And... and you saw what Bowers did to me and Stan, and this thing... it's stronger than him, he's following its orders, so I... maybe we should really wait until we're ready, it's a bit reckless, don't you think?"

A glimpse of rage and frustration shined in Bill's eyes as he reached for the other man's collar and grabbed it. "D-do you think t-this is a joke, Eddie?"

The wizard shook his head, and Bill started to shake him holding his collar with one hand and his neck with the other. "D-do you want Juh-georgie to die Eddie? Or is t-there another reason for y-you to make me w-waste time like t-that?"

"Please don't get mad Bill, I'm just scared" Eddie croaked.

"Y-you asked me to c-come earlier, now y-you're coming, a-are we clear?"

"Bill, mate, there's no need to..." Ben tried to reason.

"Are we c-clear?"

"Bill, you're hurting me"

"If you're not letting go right now, you're going to regret it, I swear" Richie hissed, touching Bill's back with his wand threateningly. Mike put an hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Slowly, Stanley took Bill's hand in his and made him let go. Eddie cleared his throat, nervously touching his neck.

"You know, it makes sense. What Eddie's saying. Do you really believe more than half of our bracelets are glowing for no reason?" Mike tried to reason.

"If t-there's s-something you d-didn't tell us M-mike do it n-now. If it's n-not, stop w-wasting my time for this b-bullshit"

"We're coming Bill, okay? We're just a bit overwhelmed, that's all. And there's a lot we still have to understand about all this" Beverly explained.

Richie sighed, he was still seeing red and tried to relax. "Come here, Eds"

"Huh?" he didn't even ask him to stop call him that, he just furrowed his brows almost comically.

"Come on, just do it"

Bill rolled his eyes and Stanley looked at him with an annoyed glare. Eddie got closer to him, still looking anxious.

"So, you say you're scared"

"Well, who isn't right now?" the man replied in embarrassment. "I don't know if I can, Rich" he said as he looked away, waiting for another scolding. When he felt a hand on his cheek he flinched.

"I need you to look at me now, Eddie"  
And he did. Richie adjusted his glasses with his free hand and sighed.

"Listen to me, who defeated the most powerful dark Wizard of the century when he was thirteen?"

Eddie gulped. "Me?" he whispered.

"Who injured Henry Bowers making him bleed immediately after getting half his face ripped off?"

"Also me...?"

"Who refused to heal a woman twice his size to get rid of her abusive ass?"

Eddie frowned at the words. "Me", he said.

"You, exactly. You're braver than you think. Stop acting like you're not" he said, looking fondly at him. For a moment Eddie thought he was going to finally say what he wished he said a long time ago even if he didn't like to think about it. He thought back at when a few hours prior he smelled that damned love potion and nearly got caught. But he bit his lips instead, closing his eyes and sighing deeply.

Mike looked expectantly at them, indulging on their wrists. Nothing happened and he huffed in frustration.

"Are you coming whit us?" Richie asked, his hand still firm on the cheek. Eddie slightly nodded and Richie grinned, softly slapping him.

"Ouch" he muttered.

"Oh, shit, yeah, sorry"

"Well, let's go" Stanley said, looking hesitantly down the well.

"M-me first" Bill said flatly, then turned towards Eddie. "I'm s-sorry. I didn't m-mean to yell like t-that"

The other man shrugged his shoulders. "We're all stressed Bill. I understand"

And as soon as he said this, Bill jumped in the hole.

"Woah!" Ben whispered, as he looked down. 

After a few seconds, they heard a distant "Aresto m-momentum" and then Bill yelled at them. "Come d-down! It's s-safe!"

Mike jumped next, then Ben. Beverly soon followed after her husband. Stanley and Eddie exchanged a worried look.

"Together, Stan?" Eddie asked, hopeful.

"Together" and the moment after they were falling down the dark hole.

Richie casted a spell to lock the bathroom's door. He heard the muffled voices of his friends down there, and he joined them. The fall was longer than expected. When he stopped it with a spell, a few inches from the floor, all of his friends were already making light with their wands.

** _Stanley Uris gets revenge_ **

"This smell is killing me" Mike said, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

"What are these? Bones?" Ben asked, looking at the floor.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake" Stanley whined, when he finally saw what his friend was talking about.

Thousands of thousands of dirty bones under their feet, cracking as they walked. They smelled of death.

"Wingardium leviosa" Eddie whispered, and what it looked like a tibia flew in front of his eyes. "They're human bones" he declared, flatly. The tibia fell back over the others.

"Wow, thanks Eds, now I'm feeling a lot better" Richie muttered.

"Don't call me Eds"

"N-nox" Bill said, and his wand's light disappeared.

"What, Bill?" Mike asked.

"We're g-gonna need a c-compass" he explained, holding his wand flat in his hand. "Point m-me" he said, casting the four point spell. The wand turned and pointed to his right.

"Smart move, Billy!" Stan grinned.

"We'll g-go straight n-north. It's c-colder there. The b-book..."

"It said Pennywise prefers cold environments. Right. I agree" Mike finished the sentence.

They all nodded as they started to slowly walk in the tubes. The air was so wet it was almost dense. Even if six wands were now lighted on, and five bracelets shined in the dark, they couldn't see properly, a nasty dark fog filling the big tubes of the Hogwarts' sewers.

"I hate this" Ben whispered to Beverly, and the woman took his hand.

Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them, and Stanley turned to see what happened. "Did you hear it?" he asked, under his breath.

"It's p-probably a m-mouse Stan, keep g-going"

They walked for a while more, when a louder ruffled noise arrived at their hears. "This didn't sound like a mouse" Richie whined.

"Are we sure the basilisk has been killed? I'm not thrilled at the idea of turning into stone or, you know, dying in the fucking sewers" Eddie asked worriedly.

"The basilisk is dead" Mike confirmed. "But I don't think we're gonna be too thankful for that when we'll understand what's coming after us"

"Well, that was reassuring, thanks Mike" Stanley commented, sharply.

Suddenly, a green flash passed less than one inch far from Beverly's head. She screamed.

"What the fuck?" Ben shouted. They heard a laugh coming from the darkness. Richie's hand istintively grabbed Eddie's arm and he pushed him closer.

"That thing it... it was... it nearly..." Beverly whispered, shocked. Ben was fuming.

"Who's there?" Mike cried, and the laugh grew higher.

"F-fuck, we d-don't have time for t-this"

"Mike, don't you recognise me? This hurts me, little one"

"Fuck. Not again" Eddie groaned.

As the man was approaching them, they started to see the frame of an old man, with dirty grey hair, old crappy clothes, little blue eyes and one single raised hand, that was holding a wand against them. They could spot dry dark blood on his clothes where his waist was supposed to be.

"W-we have to go. F-fuck what do we d-do? We have to h-hurry" Bill asked.

"Is it fear what I hear Billy? William Denbrough is scared! What a fortunate event!"

"We're seven, and you're alone. Let us go now and we won't kill you" Beverly shouted.

"I know you outnumber me, and you'll probably win if we had a fight. But how much time will it cost, huh? It would be so bad if you'll be to late to save the children. I've heard it's hungry today. Who do you think it will eat first, Billy? Do you have any suggestion? Because I've someone in mind but I don't think you'll like it"

"Sh-shut up B-bowers!" Bill cried.

"Stanley, Edward! What are you doing here? I'm a bit disappointed, I worked so hard on you two"

As soon as he said this, Stanley tensed and whispered "Leave him to us, guys"

"What?!" Ben asked, eyes wide.

Eddie sighed hesitantly, then looked at his friends and nodded. "Go save Georgie and the others. We'll stop him, at least for a while"

"No way" Mike said.

"Yes, no way" Richie added, still holding Eddie's arm. He shook his head.

"We'll come back" Stanley assured, looking at him in the eyes.

Bill smiled gratefully at them. "B-be careful, g-guys. N-now let's g-go" he said to the others.

Richie let go of Eddie's arm and looked down at him, speechless. The man nodded, smiling weakly at him.

Mike put an hand on Richie's shoulder and softly pushed him with them.

"I love you guys. Be careful" Beverly whispered, stepping back. They all looked hesitant as they started walking away, turning their heads back every few steps.

"What do I see? You two! My favourites! You know, I always learn from my mistakes. This time I will kill you to make sure you're not coming back"

"Not if I kill you first" Stan whispered.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bowers shouted, and a green flash almost hit Stan, who jumped on the right, miraculously dodging it.

"Stupefy!" Eddie yelled, but a blue shield spell sparkled between them.

"You have to try harder to get me down, Doctor Kaspbrak"

"Be careful Eddie, remember, we only have to give the others as much time as we can" Stanley whispered.

"Yes, but I would like to stay alive in the process" the other replied as another green light blew up the wall behind them, broken bones sprawled everywhere.

"Diffindo!" Stanley attacked, and the spell hit him, hurting his shoulder. Bowers' wand nearly fell on the dirty floor.

"Nice one Stan!" Eddie said, grinning.

"I want to make this motherfucker bleed. Are you with me?"

"Always" Eddie replied, a proud look in his eyes.

The three of them kept dueling for a while. Bowers was powerful, but he was old and all the years in Azkaban without practice certainty didn't help.

Stanley and Eddie were both talented wizards, and they outnumbered him, but they both were still recovering from the attacks. The fight was balanced.

Half an hour later, Stanley was limping because of a bombarda that indirectly hit his ankle, and Eddie had a bad bruise on his forehead. Bowers remained untouched after the first injury on his shoulder, but he looked tired.

"He underestimated us" Stanley whispered to Eddie watching at the dark wizard that was clearly trying to control his breath.

"I think he more like overestimated himself" Eddie replied, then he tried to hit him with a stunning spell. 

Bowers dodged it, but that didn't save him. The man stumbled for a moment because of the quick jump he had to do, avoiding Eddie's spell. Stanley was quick.

"Pietrificus totalus!" and a white sparkling flash of light enveloped him, as he fell on the floor, stiff as a board.

"Ha!" the man roared, and Eddie hugged him, crying and laughing at the same time.

"What do we do with this bastard?" Stanley hissed as they pulled apart. "He used crucio against you, if I remember well"

Eddie nodded, goosebumps on his skin as he remembered the pain. "Yes. But it won't be worth it, trust me" the man said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Probably not. But it would be fun"

"Let's just tie him up and go back to the others! They may need help!"

"Okay", he replied, looking at Bowers with disgust as they approached him. Eddie casted a tying spell and tires held him thightly as he shot them a glare, frozen still.

"See you in hell, asshole!" Stanley said with a frown, kicking him full on the nose. The man couldn't defend himself but his eyes now were clearly filled with pain. Stanley smiled widely.

"See, Eddie? That was definitely worth it. Now let's go"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The three reasons I wrote this fic for are the following:
> 
> > I am boh a Reddie bitch and an HP bitch
> 
> > More Georgie and Bill
> 
> > Give Stanley fucking Uris some fucking justice. 
> 
> So I enjoyed a lot the last kick of this chapter, I hope you did enjoy reading it too.
> 
> Tomorrow I will post both the last chapter and the epilogue, that will be shorter than normal chapters, because I don't want you to wait one more day for something small n.n


	6. Omnia Vincit Amor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Didn't you tell them Mikey? Didn't you tell them why the potion isn't going to work? Why you all will die down here?" the voice asked again, coming directly from hell. It was laughing.  
"W-what does it mean M-mikey? D-did you lie to us?" Bill asked in shock.  
"I'm sorry!" Mike shouted, as the monster kept chasing them. One claw nearly hit Stanley's head, he was the slowest of them because of the broken ankle. Ben grabbed him and pushed him out of the trajectory just in time.  
"I'm sorry! I lied to you because I thought it would be more effective!" Mike kept apologizing, he refused to run. Pennywise smiled at him.  
"What do you mean, Mike? What are you hiding from us?" Beverly asked, heavy breathing behind one of the columns.   
"I know what the sentence in the book means. I know how to stop him" he said, and one huge monstrous tail entangled him, slowly crushing him.

_05/02/94_

_The ugly loud scream pierced through air and Bill, Richie and Stanley had to cover their hears in pain._

_"I t-think it was __E-eddie_" _Bill whispered. When he finished the sentence Richie was already out, running down the stairs._

_They soon reached the room where the scream came from, and Bill went straight to open the door, but Stanley stopped him, holding his arm_.

_"Wait, I think Bowers is inside" he said, worried. The boys hesitated for a moment, exchanging scared looks._

_When they were about to start changing their minds about what to do, a man's voice say, through the wooden door "you really are a stubborn kid, aren't you? I asked you where are your friends"_

_"I'm alone. Please, stop. I'm alone" they heard Eddie cry. _

_"I'm not stupid, I heard at least one of your friends shout from upstairs. How many of them are here?"_

_Silence. They heard a frustrated huff. "_ _Crucio_ _"_

_As Eddie screamed again, Richie slammed the door open and Stan gasped in surprise. The dark wizard turned immediately to face them as he smiled. Eddie was crouching on the floor, he was sobbing, his face in a grimace of pain. Richie stared at him in horror for a moment, then he looked up at Bowers._

_Bill quickly took the camera that hanged from his neck in his hands and took a picture with a flash. The action looked so random that the wizard was left speechless for a moment. _ _It only lasted a few seconds._

_"I'm going to kill all of you... starting with..." he looked like he was thinking deeply, " you, kid" he finally say, looking at Stanley. He flinched and Bill leaned over him istintively._

_"I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad you came" he raised his wand over them with a grin. _

_"__Avada__..." just in time before he could finish the spell, Stanley whining loudly in fear, three blurred figures in broomsticks flew in the room, screaming and making a mess. The wizard stepped back in confusion for a moment, then started to cast curses with rage. The spells_ _bounced everywhere, destroying the already broken furniture and spreading shatters on them, adding mess to the mess._

_Richie jumped forward and kneeled on the floor, cupping Eddie's cheeks to check on him. He didn't seem to mind the infernal mess they were currently in_ _, eyes only for his friend. _ _"Eddie, are you okay? Look at me! Eddie please, say something! Eddie! Eddie please tell me you're okay, you..."_

_One of the scarlet flashes that were piercing the room landed on Stanley's chin. The boy fell down but Bill catched him in his arms before he could hit the floor. His face was covered in blood and he was completely knocked out. _

_Suddenly, Bill felt rage overwhelming him, as he layed Stanley carefully on the floor. The other three kept flying to confuse the wizard as he tried to hit them. When a green deadly flash nearly got Beverly's head, Bill was already seeing red. Quickly he stood up and ran in the middle of the room._

_They didn't have their wands, they left them in the school because of the trace, but he had to do something. That hideous man wasn't going to hurt his friends anymore._

_Bill raised his hand screaming and with one astonishingly elegant movement, because Bill was like this, he was naturally elegante like the Knights you read about in the books, he chopped Bowers' hand off. The one that was holding his wand._

_Bowers screamed in pain and the boy finally seemed to realise what he did, looking at the _ _Gryffindor's_ _ sword in his hands in disbelief. Ben flew to grab the fallen wand in a second, like it was a golden snitch, taking it from the mutilated hand on the floor._

_"Ben, cast a spell, come on!" Beverly shouted. Bowers was desperately trying to dab the blood._

_"Which one?" Ben asked frantically._

_"Anyone! You have still the trace! They'll come to get us!" Richie shouted, his fingers in Eddie's hairs, trying to calm him down. Mike was trying to wake Stanley up in desperation. _

_"I don't know what to cast!"_

_"Just s-say _ _s-something_ _, Ben!" Bill screamed in frustration._

_"Stupefy!" Ben said, pointing his wand at Bowers. The man was suddenly thrown on the wall and collapsed to the floor, blood still spilling from his hand. _

_One second later, the room was crowded with aurors._

* * *

** _Pennywise_ ** ** _ wakes up_ **

The remaining five of the group of friends were in a long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with serpents, rose to a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

There was no doubt about it. It was the Chamber of Secrets. The enormous corpse of a giant snake, more than one hundred feet long, lied lifeless on the floor.

Towards the ceiling, floating in the air, there were seven bodies. The bodies of the students.

"We have t-to reach them, h-how do we reach them?" Bill asked frantically, looking at them with wide eyes.

"I have no idea. Maybe we should try to climb on the pillars" Ben muttered.

"Okay, let me try one thing. Stay behind me" Mike said, as he stepped towards the snake.

"What are you doing Mike?" Beverly asked, with a furrowed brow.

"I'm trying to cast the biggest transfiguration spell of my life on a dead dangerous creature, that's what I'm doing, Bevvy" He replied, and he closed his eyes.

The others looked at him in awe. The man looked taller and somehow stronger than usual as he stood and raised his right arm, holding his wand. He wasn't Mikey anymore, their childhood friend, the kid with kind eyes and the best smiles. He was professor Hanlon, the transfiguration teacher and headmistress Maturin's second in command. He was one of the most talented wizard of their current time.

"Funiverto" he said, widely gesturing towards the body. Nothing happened at first. Richie had the time to nervously look behind towards the entrance for the billionth time, expecting Stan and Eddie to come back, when he heard a gasp coming from his friends' mouths and turned back. Instead of the huge corpse of a dark creature, on the floor of the chamber there was a long glimmering rope.

"Fuck" Richie cursed.

"That was amazing, Mikey" Ben said, his jaw dropped open.

"Well, it's my job, after all" he replied.

Bill put a hand on his shoulder. "L-let's try ca-catch them" he said firmly, looking up trying to find his brother among all of the children.

"Okay, I'll tie a loop. Then someone will have to levitate the rope and grab the children with it" Beverly suggested.

"I'll do it. I'm the most rigorous with this kind of things" Ben offered, and the others nodded.

It was easy to say, but difficult to do. That's why half an hour later, they still weren't successful. Bill was getting crazy. He never stopped looking up and Mike feared he could have had a stiff neck if he kept doing this. Ben was sighing in frustration as he stared at the rope, no one was able to actually hit one of them with it, either throwing it up and making it levitate with a spell. The bodies were too far.

Beverly and Richie kept looking at the entrance nervously, Richie tapping feverishly his foot on the floor, biting his lower lip.

"It's been too long, isn't it? Maybe we should go check" Beverly asked, knowing that she would have received an affermative response.

The other was already ready to go when they heard noises coming from outside of the room. All of them grabbed their wands, ready to face whoever was going to fight them.

When they spotted a limping Stanley, supported by a forehead bleeding Eddie, both grinning widely, they cheered loudly, running to greet and hug them. Ben and Mike took Stanley from Eddie's exhausted hands, while Eddie collapsed on the floor.

"Oh, thank fuck" Richie muttered, and Beverly checked on them. Stanley already had a bandage charm on his broken ankle, while Eddie had successfully healed his own bruise, the blood now dry on a perfectly fine forhead.

"That bastard won't mess with us anymore" Stanley grinned, and Eddie chuckled. Richie was staring at him in awe.

"D-did you k-kill him?" Bill asked with a frown.

"I didn't. I would have, but Eddie didn't let me"

"Good choice. He wasn't worth it, Stanny" Ben reasoned, helping him sit on the floor.

"Yeah, that's what I said" Eddie pointed out, "but Stan used the body freezing spell and then kicked his face. It was great!"

"He won't threaten me in my nightmares anymore" Stanley said, proudly.

"Team work, right?" Eddie asked.

"Teamwork, buddy" his friend replied, only to ask immediately after, "So, what are you fuckers doing?"

"W-we're trying to get them d-down with this, but we couldn't c-catch them" Bill explained. He looked up hopelessly like he had been doing for the past half an hour. At least he was technically with Georgie, now. But the page on the book was clear: he was in a state of pure fear at the moment and he was going to die soon. It had to stop. Now. The thought made him close his eyes in pain.

"Did you try to appellate them?" Eddie asked, frowning.

"Of course we did. Well, it can't be done with real people, only with objects, so we tried to appellate their clothes... it didn't work" Mike answered.

Beverly's face suddenly lit up. "I've got an idea!" she said, turning to face Stanley. "Stanny, remember when during third year you made Greta Bowie stick her hands to her potion textbook and she kept ripping pages off?"

"Yes, of course I do! I did it because she called Mike a beggar!" Stanley smiled.

"Thanks again, by the way" Mike said softly to his friend. The other looked at him and winked.

"S-so what?" Bill asked in confusion.

"Ben, hon, you're the most athletic" Beverly continued, and Richie snorted. "Ha! He whishes!"

"Shut up Richie, I'm listening" Eddie said, and the man immediately shut up. Stan smirked.

"We'll do the same thing to him and he'll climb one of the pillars. He should get to them through it"

"It m-makes sense. It makes sense. W-would you do it, B-ben?"

The man nodded hesitantly, looking at how tall the pillars were. Stanley remembered the spell, and they quickly followed the plan.

Ben sighed deeply and put off his shoes. They casted a spell on his feet too, and he looked up for the billionth time, with a hesitant look.

"You got this, honey" Beverly said, and the man leaned on the marble pillar, slowly. He sighed and he pulled himself up. Mike felt goosebumps looking at his friend. He knew if he fell they all could stop the fall easily with magic, but the sight was terrifying.

Bill was looking up too, but he was deep in his thoughts. Beverly was starting to regret her suggestion after Ben was over the first six feet of the climb.

Eddie flinched the first time Ben nearly fell, and Richie leaned into him like he always did when they were scared. Stanley had his hands on Bill's shoulders, squeezing them every time Ben cursed under his breath.

"You're doing amazing sweetie!" Beverly shouted again, but her voice was shaking. She exchanged a worried look with Mike.

When Ben finally was at the top of the pillar, it had to be at least fifty feet tall, he raised his right hand towards a young Hufflepuff girl with a red mark on her cheek that was floating next to him. Only his left hand and his feet were clinged to the pale column. Everyone held their breath. In the exact moment Ben's fingers brushed against Vicky's robes, the ground trembled and Ben lost his balance.

Three spells at once, Mike's, Richie's and Beverly's stopped him from crashing on the dirty wet floor, as they heard a series of loud thuds and the ground trembled more and more.

"Fuck" Richie cursed, as an high pitched voice said "Who's trying to steal my meal?"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" Eddie repeated, when an enormous spider with the waist and face of a clown, more than thirty feet tall, with big yellow eyes entered the chamber, its shark theeth perfectly visible in its grin.

** _Richie Tozier gets a kiss (part two)_ **

The spider touched one of the kids with its long claw, hunger shining in its eyes. Beverly, who was carrying the potion, reached for it with her left hand, the right one was holding Ben's, and threw it at him.

"I really hope it's going to work, guys, because it's the only plan we have at the moment" Ben whispered, and the monster lowered another claw towards them as nothing happened.

They jumped just in time, spreading in any direction. Mike groaned loudly.

"Didn't you tell them Mikey? Didn't you tell them why the potion isn't going to work? Why you all will die down here?" the voice asked again, coming directly from hell. It was laughing.

"W-what does it mean M-mikey? D-did you lie to us?" Bill asked in shock.

Richie casted a stunning spell against the thing but it was ineffective. The man huffed in frustration.

"You're wasting your time Rich, this doesn't work with it" Eddie said to him frantically. "Oh Merlin we're all going to die" he whined, and Richie couldn't but look at him, speechless and afraid.

"I'm sorry!" Mike shouted, as the monster kept chasing them, they were running to avoid the attacks. One claw nearly hit Stanley's head, he was the slowest of them because of the broken ankle. Ben grabbed him and pushed him out of the trajectory just in time.

"I'm sorry! I lied to you because I thought it would be more effective!" Mike kept apologizing, he refused to run. Pennywise smiled at him.

"What do you mean, Mike? What are you hiding from us?" Beverly asked, heavy breathing behind one of the columns.

"I know what the sentence in the book means. I know how to stop him" he said, and one huge monstrous tail entangled him, slowly crushing him. He screamed in pain.

"F-fuck Mike, go away! R-run!" Bill shouted, running towards him, desperately trying to free him from the hold.

"The only way to stop it is that each one of us overcomes his biggest fear with love" Mike croaked as Pennywise's hold tightened.

"I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you" Pennywise hissed, happiness filling his voice.

"When I realised I was ready to die for my students, because I loved them, my bracelet started glowing. I was the first one. Then I sent Bill to talk to Georgie. I hoped he would acknowledge how he loved him and how he wanted to prevent the attacks for him. He didn't go, but when Georgie was kidnapped, it worked anyway. He didn't feel scared anymore, not for himself at least. He only was determined to find him. And it worked"

The men and the woman looked at him in shock as he kept talking, trying not to pass out because of the crushing tail that was holding him.

"When Ben came back and apologized, overcoming his fear of reject, when Beverly accepted his apologize, it worked for them too. Then Stanley, the most unpredictable of all of us came back, because..."

"Because I love you. I was scared but I came anyway because I love you. I was ready to die for you" Stanley admitted.

"I suggested to Eddie to try with amortentia because I hoped he would have realised what was really important for him, but it didn't work. And with Richie, too... nothing worked and I kept this all to myself because I didn't want them to feel forced, I was scared it couldn't make it like that. I'm sorry" Mike cried.

"L-let him g-go, monster!" Bill cried trying to push the tail away from Mike. He heard the first bones snap. Ben jumped forward to help him.

"I deserve it guys, it's okay" he whispered in pain.

"B-bullshit M-mikey, stop" Bill replied, his voice broken.

Mike made a last agonizing look, and Richie couldn't stand it. He ran next to them with a rock in his hand.

"Leave my friends alone, you sloppy bitch!" he shouted, and he threw the rock so hard it actually seemed to work. Pennywise's attention shifted immediately to him, as he started to release a broken Mike with a frown. The man collapsed on Ben and Bill, who held him in their arms.

"Mikey please hold on. Hold on mate, please. We're going to get you out of here" Ben whispered in his hear as he moaned in pain.

The monster's tail crawled slowly towards Richie and catched him, lifting him up in front of its face. "You'll be the first to die, my dear friend" it hissed, and Richie screamed.

Stanley looked in utter horror as the monster started to crush his friend slowly. Beverly cried out his name in desperation.

Eddie stopped breathing. His head was spinning and he was absolutely terrified.

"It's my fault" he whispered in shock, looking helplessly at his friends fighting for their lives. "It's my fault. Richie will die, we all will, because I'm too scared to... I'm too scared to..."

Richie screamed again and the only thing he was capable to think straight was there was no fucking way he could let that happen.

_"No. Fucking. Way." _

Suddenly, he felt a cold freezing weight in his hands. He looked down and tensed, holding it carefully. The second later, rage and worry overwhelming him, he was shouting "You die if you try, motherfucker!" and the Gryffindor sword was flying through the air finally piercing Pennywise's skull.

It all happened in a moment. The monster screamed so high they had to cover their hears in pain as he let go of the man. It lost his balance, stumbling on the wall, making it tremble dangerously. Richie fell down, and Stanley had the nerve to stop his fall just in time. When he layed on the floor, eyes closed, Eddie immediately was leaning over him, shaking his shoulders.

"Man, I think I killed it. I think I killed it, it worked! Richie, can you hear me?"

His friend remained silent and Eddie shook his shoulders stronger, his breath dangerously fast. 

"Richie? Can you hear me? Please Richie, wake up. I can't make it without you, please, you have to..."when he was on the verge of panic and felt his eyes go wet, the man beneath him slowly opened his eyes and Eddie let out a cry in relief.

The sight of his friend leaning over him froze Richie for a moment, he feared his heart was going to run off his chest. "Eds, what...?" he asked, almost breathless.

"I'm sorry" he heard Eddie whisper, so low he thought he misheard it at first. "I'm sorry Rich, I have to do this" but he didn't have time to reply because Eddie was kissing him.

They didn't see the shadow of one of the claws towering them as the monster screamed in pain, ready to kill them both. They didn't hear their friends shouting their names warning them of the imminent danger. When Richie closed his eyes and started to react to the kiss, when he tangled his fingers in Eddie's hair melting into the sensation, sighing with relief, both their bracelets started to shine in the dark, and the claw that nearly pierced them both in a deadly spare vanished. The enormous spider vanished.

Now that all the seven bracelets sparkled with magic, it was only a clown. It looked small, scared and shocked, screeching on the floor.

When the two men ran out of air and finally parted, Eddie whined at the loss. Richie was feeling so overwhelmed his eyes started to tear up. "Eds, fuck, I... I love you. You're the very first person I ever loved and I'm pretty sure you'll be the last. I always loved you, I will always love you, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner" he cried.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, too. It was hard admitting it to myself. I nearly got us all killed" the other whispered, his voice shaking.

"But you saved us, too. You saved me"

"And I'd do it again a thousand times, and I'd fight this hell of a clown a thousand times, because I love you too"

** _Maturin makes a sacrifice_ **

Pennywise hissed with an agonizing grimace as he crawled out of the room.

"Do you think it's going to die?" Beverly asked, looking at it as it disappeared again.

"We don't have time for this. We have to help Mikey now" Stanley said, helping Ben to lie Mike down on the floor.

"T-they're coming down! They're coming d-down!" Bill shouted, looking up to the ceiling where the children were slowly lowering towards them.

Richie and Eddie, still on the floor, seemed to realise in that moment they weren't alone. "I... I probably have to check up on Mike" Eddie whispered, clearing his throat.

Richie looked still in shock, but he managed to ghost another sweet kiss on the other's lips. "Then go, what are you waiting for?"

Eddie offered him a weak smile, and he stood up. He quickly walked through the chamber, finally kneeling next to his friend.

"Mikey? Do you hear me mate?" he asked, and Mike moaned, incapable to speak. All of his friends but Richie, who was awkwardly trying to gain enough strength to stand up, were completely focused on him.

"I don't have any more Ossofast. So I'll temporarily bandage you and then I'll do something for the pain. Are you okay with that?" the man nodded. "Ferula" Eddie said, moving his wand fast. Bandages appeared on Mike's waist, legs, and chest.

"Will he be okay?" Beverly asked worriedly.

"Only if we're taking him to St Mungo's as soon as we're out from here. He doesn't have much time left" he answered with a serious look.

Ben swore under his breath. Bill had still his eyes fixed on his brother, slowly coming down from the ceiling. Stan opened his mouth to say something, but a sudden noise interrupted him.

"What the hell is that?" Richie yelled, and all the faces except Mike's turned to face him. He had just managed to stand up, evidently struggling to keep the balance.

There was something slowly moving on the floor. Something approaching them. Richie raised his wand, worried. Bill immediately reached him, protectively standing next to his friend. "Is it a... a t-turtle? A f-fucking turtle?" the man asked, looking at it with wide eyes.

The following second, the animal wasn't there anymore. In the middle of the Chamber of Secrets, tall, elegant and fierce, stood the most powerful witch of the time. Maturin looked at them almost fondly, without saying a word.

"Headmistress?" Beverly asked in disbelief. The woman ignored her as well as she ignored the confused look of the other wizards. She walked through the Chamber and looked down at Mike.

"What are you...?" Eddie asked, and she raised her wand. A few seconds later, without any verbal spell, they heard Mike's bones snapping back into place. He gasped loudly and opened his eyes.

"Mike!" Ben yelled, leaning down to hug his friend. "Mike, thank Merlin! You're okay!"

The children were now less than eight feet over the ground, they kept coming down slowly but inexorably. Bill shot a quick nervous look at them and then looked back down at the woman.

"You all did good. Now it's up to me. Stand up, professor. You two, come here"

Mike obliged, still confused. Bill and Richie walked next to the others, Richie gently grabbing Eddie's hand who squeezed it, Bill shooting a last glance up at Georgie.

"The children are alive" Maturin reassured. "Professor, you told me that you saw the students in the vision it showed you yesterday night, and you thought they were dead. They weren't. They looked dead because you saw them in the freezing state Pennywise had put them", they heard Bill gasp in relief and suppress a sob.

The witch continued. "I'm sorry I didn't intervene sooner. I couldn't. Long time ago, I heard a prophecy about me and Pennywise. When the first student was kidnapped, I already knew what it was"

"So why didn't you...?" Stanley asked, but she shut him up with a glare. Beverly brushed her hand to his friend's arm for support.

"The prophecy was about you, too. I knew you would have had to make love overcome your deepest fears. Fear of death. Fear of reject. Fear of failure. Fear of yourselves. And I knew that when you all would have succeeded I would have had to come down here. And die"

All of them gasped in surprise at the words. "I didn't act sooner because mine was supposed to be the latest action to be made. The love you unleashed will kill it through me. The hate it will unleash dying, will kill me. That's how it's supposed to end"

"Headmistress Maturin, you don't have to do that" Mike reasoned. "There must be another way..."

"There isn't. Michael, you are a great teacher and a valuable man. You care about the children and you are a powerful, talented wizard. I trust you completely and I know your worth. I'm asking you to become the headmaster of Hogwarts after me"

Richie whistled, looking at him in surprise. Mike widened his eyes and stepped back. "What? I can't, I'm not... I'm not ready! Hogwarts needs you, headmistress. It does"

"It's because you say you're not ready that I know you are. The choice is made"

"But..."

"Now follow me. The children will start to recover as soon as the clown dies" she said, and started walking towards the entrance.

Bill looked at Georgie aching to touch him and assure himself he was alive. He whined when they all had to follow the woman outside of the Chamber. They silently walked through the sewers' corridors, when they finally found what they were looking for.

Pennywise, in its clown form, looked small and helpless. It was crouched on the floor, shivering and whining. Ben found the sight miserable and pitiful, even if he knew the true nature of the monster.

Maturin stood next to the whining creature, towering him. "Hold hands. All of you" the witch ordered, and they obliged.

They shyly reached for one another, behind her, and held ech others' hands. It was like a warm source of magic passed through their arms and locked hands. Mike felt goosebumps on his skin as he held Stanley's hand thigher. Their bracelets shined more, and a flash of white light came from them slowly reaching the Maturin's wand, soaking it with pure magic.

The wizards and the witch felt a warm feeling overwhelming them and all of a sudden they weren't afraid anymore. They felt strong, determined and full of love, and hope.

The light grew stronger and stronger, it was nearly impossible looking at it, Richie closed his sensible eyes and felt Eddie's hand squeeze his as a way to let him know it was okay.

When Maturin's wand was glowing so much it was like looking directly to the sun, Pennywise let out a loud screeching cry. The woman looked mercilessly at him, then said flatly

"_Omnia vincit amor_"

Everything went white.

** _Bill Denbrough makes an apology_ **

When they woke up, they were laying down on the floor, still holding hands.

"F-fuck..." Bill muttered, the first to open his eyes. He let go of Beverly and Stanley's hand and sit up. He soon noticed Maturin still on the floor, the clown turned to stone, a painful expression on its face.

"Guys, wake up! Wake up! She needs our help! Guys!" he shouted.

Richie groaned, opening one eye with a frown. "Come on dude, my head is aching like hell, shut up!"

"Bill, you didn't stutter!" Stanley pointed out, slowly waking up.

As soon as Mike opened his eyes, he stood up and ran next to the old woman on the floor. "No! No no no no. Eddie! Eddie do something! Eddie!" He begged and the man jumped up with e gasp.

"What the fuck, man...?" he complained, followed by a "oh".

Maturin was apparently lifeless, her eyes slightly opened, directed to the ceiling.

"Please, do something!" all of them were awake now, and Eddie slowly stood up, untangling his fingers from Richie's and Ben's hold. The healer stepped closer. He gestured towards her with his wand, muttering a spell.

One second later he sighed and closed his eyes. "Mikey... she's dead"

"No! It can't be! There has to be something we can do! We have to go to the hospital. She'll be okay! Eddie, come on!"

"I'm a healer, not a necromancer, Mikey. It's over. I'm sorry"

"Oh Mike..." Beverly whispered, gently rubbing her hands on his back.

"I'm sorry" Stanley added, approaching him and grabbing his shoulders.

When it looked like they were all going to embrace him in a group hug, Richie cleared his throat. "I'm sorry too guys, I truly am but, erm, the children"

Bill suddenly tensed and flew back in the Chamber without a word. Mike cursed under his breath, forgetting Maturin for a moment and focusing on the students. The others followed.

The children were on the floor, probably passed out. They didn't look in pain, but peaceful. Like they were sleeping. Eddie soon reached the closest of them, a tall Slytherin with black air and a big nose, and muttered "innerva". The boy opened his eyes with a gasp.

"Patrick! Oh thank Merlin" Mike exclaimed in relief, helping him stand up. "How are you feeling, kid?" Eddie asked him, checking him close.

"Like shit" the boy grunted. Richie snored, while Stanley rolled his eyes.

"Okay, he's back" Mike said. Hocksetter had always been rude, and if he was swearing it meant he was definitely okay. Normally Mike would have scolded him for that, but he decided to let it go.

Bill didn't even shoot a look at any of the other kids. In less than one second he was kneeling next to Georgie, fear and hope in his face as he woke him up with a spell. He waited for the longest moment of his life and when his brother finally blinked, looking at him in confusion, he felt like one thousand hundredweight had just fallen off his shoulders all at once.

"Billy? Why are you...?" he muttered, his head still fuzzy as he just woke up from the curse. He didn't even finish the sentence because Bill crushed him in the thighest hug.

Georgie barely reacted, as he awkwardly hugged his brother back.

When he realised Bill was sobbing with the face on his shoulder and he saw where he was, realisation hit him like a brick wall. "Oh" he whispered, suddenly clinging into the embrace.

"I'm sorry Georgie, I'm so sorry, you can't even imagine how much sorry I am" the man whispered in his hear, without letting go.

"What... what are you sorry for?" the boy asked, he was starting to tear up too. He had never seen his brother cry before, it was almost unbearable.

"I didn't mean to be so harsh to you yesterday. I shouldn't have. I was so mad I said things I didn't mean. When I heard you were missing I thought you... I thought you... if that was supposed to be the last thing I ever said to you I'd... fuck" he desperately gasped for air as he realised he probably never cried so much all his life.

"You were right, Bill. I was acting childish. It wasn't true, I don't hate you, I never did, you know this, right?" he whispered, and his brother nodded.

"I know. Of course, I knew it wasn't true the second I heard it, but..."

"I only wanted to prove I was brave, too. And I was... I was scared for you"

"I already know you're brave, you don't need to prove anything"

"Please don't be mad at me, Billy" Georgie whined, and finally started to cry too.

"I'm not. I'm not, I swear. I'm glad you're safe. I'll always have your back. I will never give up on you, I'm your brother, I'll always find you, okay?"

"Yes" he sighed, tears of emotion and relief going down his cheeks and soaking Bill's cloak. "I love you, Big Bill"

"I love you too. Don't you ever forget it"

Someone cleared his throat and the two pulled apart, unwillingly. "I checked everyone else, Georgie, I have to make sure you're okay. Do you mind Bill if I...?"

The man shook his head and stood up, helping Georgie do the same, they both wiped tears off their faces as they awkwardly looked at Eddie. If he noticed they were both crying, as he certainly did, he didn't mention it.

Bill stepped back as Eddie came closer, cupping the boy's chin and observing him cautiously. He touched his temple with his wand and focused.

Georgie waited patiently while being scanned with the healer's wand, looking for the for the first time at someone that wasn't his brother.

Professor Hanlon was talking to Eddie Corcoran, Betty and Dean, holding Vicky's hand. Patrick was wandering round seemingly annoyed. He noticed Adrian was looking at him smiling, he smiled back to his friend, glad to see he was okay. Ben was kneeling in front of Beverly, he kissed her belly and started to whisper things towards it with the biggest and most tender smile. Georgie thought it looked weird. Stanley and Richie were chatting light heartedly, Richie sometimes glancing a fond look at them, which was weird, too.

"Looks like you're fine" Eddie said, and he heard Bill sigh in relief again, kissing his temple. He usually wasn't an affectionate man but this time Georgie didn't mind.

Richie approached them with a smile and hugged Eddie from behind, Georgie found it even weirder. When he kissed his neck and Eddie smiled towards him affectionately he finally understood something was going on between them and looked away in embarrassment, looking for something else to focus on.

"They just saved your useless life, asshole!" he heard Adrian hiss at Hocksetter. He immediately understood what was going on as he knew Patrick. He was a homophobic piece of shit that teased Adrian and Don almost constantly. He was looking at the couple with a disgusted grimace on his face.

"If you don't stop immediately I will punch you in the face, you ungrateful prick" Adrian pushed, and Patrick rolled his eyes. Normally he would have reacted to the provocation, but this time there was a teacher with them and he kept his mouth shut, looking away from the couple.

Georgie reached for Adrian and passed an arm over his shoulders to calm him down. "Let him say what he wants, I'm sure they'll kick his ass if they hear him. That would be fun" he smirked. Patrick huffed in response.

"I think we should go now" Stanley said out loud, he looked exhausted.

Ben nodded, standing up and kissing his wife on the forhead. "You're right. We've nothing to do here anymore"

"Don't you think we should take her?" Richie asked and Mike's eyes darkened. The children looked at him in confusion.

"We probably should. Students, come here. There's something I have to tell you" Mike said flatly. Every one of the children approached him. They were visibly expecting the next bad news of the day

"Today headmistress Maturin chose to die to save your lives" he explained calmly, trying not to be too harsh but also being completely honest. Vicky flinched and Mike squeezed her hand. Patrick was the only one who didn't look affected by his words. "It was very brave of her and you should be proud and thankful. I wish you will keep this secret until I'll do the official announcement to the school. It was her wish for me to follow her lead and become the next headmaster and I..." he looked at his friends who nodded supportively, "I accepted the offer. I want you all to know I'll take it very seriously and I hope you'll accept me and respect me as you did with her. We'll learn and grow togheter in this"

The children nodded silently, and Mike looked at Ben. He immediately got the suggestion and went straight where Maturin was, coming back with her in his arms.

"Let's go guys" Richie said, and they slowly started their walk back. They chose not to carry Henry with them. He was too heavy for any of them and they didn't want to make him float behind, not wanting to waste their magic for him. Richie assured them he was going to ask his colleagues to pick him up later, since the dark wizard was still stiff from Stanley's spell and he wasn't going to run away.

As soon as they were out of the sewers, the children hurried back to their friends one by one. The first to leave was Adrian, racing towards the Hufflepuff Common Room with love in his eyes. The last one of the children to leave was Georgie, who refused to let Bill out of his sight. Mike agreed to send him home for a few days and they left togheter.

The next one was Stan, who apologized but said he had to go assure his wife he hasn't been killed only to get killed by her as a result.

Eddie and Richie left togheter, ready to make up for all the time they lost, holding hands and whispering something meant only for them to hear in each other's ears.

The last were Beverly and Ben, who congratulated with Mike for the promotion and promised him they would check up soon. They waited with him for the aurors to show up and them they went back home, ready to start their new exciting journey together.

As soon as he was alone the man sighed, looking at the woman he always admired, the one who always believed in him. He sighed, but he smiled too. Because his children were safe, and he loved them, his friends were happy and, most importantly, alive. And the thought of being in charge of the school didn't scare him so much, after all.


	7. Epilogue - four years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Rich-" he was shut up with a kiss. "Richie st-" another one. "Stop for the love of-" one again.  
"Richie! We're going to be late for the-" the man ignored him and kissed him softly on the scar on his cheek.  
Eddie moaned softly at the touch. "It's not fair, you know I can't resist when you do this" he breathed out.  
"That's exactly why I'm doing it, baby" he whispered, and gave a wet kiss to his jaw, then his neck. Eddie moaned again.  
"We're gonna be late for the wedding" Eddie pleaded, knowing too well he would soon give up if Richie didn't stop immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you fancy a small fluffy epilogue?  
Because I feel like they totally deserve it!

"Rich-" he was shut up with a kiss. "Richie st-" another one. "Stop for the love of-" one again.

"Richie! We're going to be late for the-" the man ignored him and kissed him softly on the scar on his cheek.

Eddie moaned softly at the touch. "It's not fair, you know I can't resist when you do this" he breathed out.

"That's exactly why I'm doing it, baby" he whispered, and gave a wet kiss to his jaw, then his neck. Eddie moaned again.

"We're gonna be late for the wedding" Eddie pleaded, knowing too well he would soon give up if Richie didn't stop. The other man sensed it and decided unwillingly to pull over.

"Not my fault if you look so hot in a suit" he whispered in Eddie's hear.

The man flushed slightly and muttered a weak "You should thank Beverly for that, then"

Richie smiled at him and offered his arm. "Let's go now. They must be already there. I bet they miss us already" he said as he winked. Eddie rolled his eyes and took it. One second later, they apparated where they were instructed to.

It was a park, big and astonishingly stunning. Green grass shining under the sun, floating flowers and fairy lights created some atmosphere leading the path towards a few dozens of white chairs and a white glimmering wooden arc. A nice cottage close to the park, ivy and bougainville growing on the withe walls, had a wide open door, witches and wizards endlessly coming in and out from there.

The place wasn't very crowded so Richie and Eddie spotted their friends immediately. Audra and Bill were light heartedly chatting with Beverly, they looked happy and relaxed. Stanley and Patricia were hugging and talking under their breaths, doing heart eyes and small smiles to one another. Patty was blushing. Ben and Mike were nowhere to be seen so far, but they had to be somewhere close.

As soon as Bill saw them he waved his hand, and they approached the small group, Eddie squeezing softly Richie's hand.

When he was near enough to be heard Richie whistled. "Wowee Denbrough, what the hell happened to you? You're a legit snack!"

Beverly clapped her hands, thrilled. "Isn't he? I'm particularly fond of this piece of mine"

"Oh, shut up Richard!" Bill laughed, shaking his head and nervously tapping his blue suit, one that nicely matched his eyes.

"You did good, Beverly. It's not everyday that you see the Minister of Magic celebrate a wedding, these days" Eddie said with a smile.

"You're right, Eds!" the man frowned hearing the pet name, "Speaking of which, _boss_, will you forgive me if I don't go back to work this afternoon? I will be busy getting my husband off this wonderful suit"

"Richie, stop it!" Eddie yelled in embarrassment.

Bill snorted, shaking her head. "You're one of the worse aurors we have, maybe I should really give you a day off today, it will be better for everyone!"

"You wish Denbrough, if it weren't for me the Ministry would be long time gone in the hands of a dark wizards"

"We should try to see if you're right, you know, I have the power to fire you, now"

"Where did you leave Georgie, Audra? I didn't see him!" Beverly asked, ignoring her friends that were starting to playfully argue over the topic.

"He's doing some best man business! He was so excited, you should have seen him!" the woman explained, and Beverly grinned widely.

"I hope he's dressing him up! That guy is certainly going to be the most handsome groom ever!"

"Impossible" Richie muttered under his breath, looking down at Eddie with a half smile.

Ben appeared from nowhere behind them, cheek flushed, and heavy breathing. "Did anyone see Billy?"

"Which one? The child or your son?"

"Ha! Nice one Rich!" Beverly laughed heartedly.

"Fuck you, four eyes!" Bill said flatly.

"My son. He's driving me crazy" Ben chuckled.

"I don't care hon, yesterday I took him, now it's your turn!" Beverly said, kissing his cheek happily. Ben groaned.

"I think I saw him with uncle Mikey inside, looking for the cake!"

"Thank you Audra, you're an angel!" he said, running towards the house.

"Having an almost four year old is exhausting!" Beverly complained, rolling her eyes.

"I know, right? When Georgie was four I thought I was going insane! When Mikey bought him that broomstick for kids I had like the worst month of my life" Bill sighed.

"Merlin, I'm so glad Eds can't get pregnant!" Richie said with wide eyes, Eddie's elbow hitting him on the ribs.

Meanwhile Ben finally got in the house, pushing groups of wizards and witches that huffed in annoyance and shot him with unpleased looks as he walked past them.

The sight that appeared in front of him as soon as he came in the kitchen made him smile leaning to the doorframe. Mike was holding Bill in his arms, talking with the kid that was chuckling.

"You sure if we eat a slice of cake nobody's going to notice?" Bill asked in a whisper.

"Mhmh. I'm a very powerful wizard, I can make some more cake to fill the hole we're going to leave"

The child stared at him in awe, lips slightly parted. "It's one of the powers you gained from being the headmaster?"

"Exactly! It's one of the most useful things I learned! Make cake to cover me from stealing some!" he said, and the child giggled.

Ben decided to clear his throat and Mike turned to face him. As soon as Bill saw him he smiled wide and tried to jump down to reach him.

"Okay, okay, I got it, go back to daddy" Mike laughed, as he handed Ben his son.

"Thanks Mikey. I'm sorry. You're always surrounded by kids and when you go out from school for once you're stuck with this little freak"

"Hey!" Bill yelled.

"It's okay Ben, I like spending time with my nephew" the man said, smiling.

They both went back to his friends outside, and noticed a young man had joined the group. He looked like a nervous wreck, he was sweating like hell and tapping feverishly his foot on the ground. His smile, despite being anxious, was wide and sincere.

"I'm so glad you made it, guys! It's important for both of us to have you all here!" he was saying, when Ben held his shoulder.

"Hey! What do my eyes see? The groom himself! How are you feeling man? Nervous?"

Don tensed at the touch and nodded vigorously.

"It'll get worst kid, trust me" Richie said with a grin.

"What do you mean, Rich?" Eddie asked with a frown.

"Don't listen to them Don, getting married was the best thing that happened to me other than this little one here" Ben said, holding Bill thightly.

"You say this because you married Bev. I'm stuck with four eyes for life now" Eddie complained.

"Fair point, mate!" Bill laughed.

"Well, fuck you all!" Richie replied.

"Richie! Not in front of the child!" Audra said flatly.

"Who's bothering my best friend?" a happy voice came from behind.

"Thank Merlin, Stanley, light of my life, please help me!"

"Only I can tease him, I'll protect him from anyone else, be careful!" the man joked, finally joining them with his wife.

"Patty, would you mind for us to switch spouses? I like yours best!"

"I don't think Eddie would agree, sweetie" Patricia apologized.

"It's not about you Patty, I'm not into women in general!" he excused himself.

The groom looked nervously at the watch on his wrist and bit his lip. "Uh, Mr Denbrough, Minister, sir"

"Oh Merlin Don, we're way past that, aren't we? Bill would be fine!"

"Okay, _Bill_, I think we should go now" he said. "Make yourselves at home" then added to the others, as the music suddenly started playing.

The group of friends but Bill, as well as all of the other guests, looked for an empty chair to sit on. As soon as everybody was sitting down, Georgie appeared in full auburn suit, grinning widely. Walking arm in arm with him, Adrian looked so happy it seemed like he was going to pass out. Bill and Don were looking at them, both already tearing up.

"They grow up so fast! One day we save them from a killer clown and the day after they get married! Isn't that beautiful?" Richie sighed dreamily.

"You're going to cry today, aren't you?" Eddie asked, rolling his eyes, but he was starting to get emotional, too.

"Oh baby, I'm gonna make your wonderful suit soaked with tears"

"Can't you cry on Stan's shoulder? I like this suit a lot actually"

"I'm sorry Eds, this is part of the husband full package, you have to"

"Don't call me Eds Rich, you know I hate it" he muttered, watching Adrian and Georgie walk down the aisle.

"As if I can't tell that you secretly love it, _Eds_"

"... yeah, you're right. I do"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm a sap but The Adrian/Don wedding with Georgie best man was something I really wanted to write for a while.  
And little Billy with Mike naturally good with kids, too.  
Big Bill is the new Minister because I said so.
> 
> Thanks for reading y'all, let me know what you think :*


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